The Three G Rules
by Mato-Gin
Summary: Tsuna's an adorable kid, but Giotto decides that he needs to let him experience the world for himself while G completely disagrees. Worried of exposing him to the world full of weirdos, G secretly tells him the three rules that'll protect him from hungry predators that can lurk in any corner. Is it saving his life or actually making it worse? R27
1. The Three G Rules

"Nii-san!" Tsuna cried.

He came running up to Giotto. "Don't leave!"

"Tsuna," he looked down at his little brother clinging on to his leg. "I won't be long, I promise, okay? But you have to be strong while I'm gone."

"Giotto!" Usari called out. "Are you done?"

They were all waiting for him to board the plane.

"Goodbye," he patted Tsuna's head.

"Nii-san!"

_He has to learn to be on his own. _He tried hard not to turn back.

"Are you sure it's okay to just leave him?" G asked.

He gave a stern nod. "It's alright. It's about time he learned to be on his own."

Giotto truly believed what he said but when G looked back, he couldn't have disagreed more. He couldn't handle Tsuna's crying face and shook his head. _There's no way he was going to make it! _G thought. Tsuna was rubbing his eyes as he walked up to him.

"Tsuna," he patted his head. He ruffled his hair so that he stopped crying. "Do you want to see your brother again?"

The kid looked up at him and shook his head. Of course! That's why he was crying!

"Then there are three things you need to learn about the world to survive to be able to see him again. If you ever come in contact with weirdos, it's important you remember these things."

"Wierdos?"

"Hn," he nodded.

"What do you mean-"

"Shhh," G interrupted signaling a finger in front of his mouth. "You can't tell Gitto I told you these things okay?"

Tsuna nodded.

"I know that school you're going to, and I've learned three things to identify which people you have to absolutely avoid. These weirdos are called 'pedos.'"

"Pedos?" he repeated. What kind of word was that?

"Number one, don't listen to people who tell you to say 'aah~'"

…

* * *

"Tsuna! Tsuna!"

" TSSUUUUNNNAAAAAAAAAAAA~!"

He felt someone shaking him.

"Hn?"

He groggily opened his eyes and saw Fran in front of his face. _Why can't I hear anything? _He was saying something but Tsuna still slowly drifted back to sleep until he saw Fran mouthing it.

"Aaaaaahhhhh~"

His eyes grew wide and he suddenly jolted awake.

"I won't say it!" he yelled kicking him in the face.

"Agh!" Fran fell back. "Damn it, Tsuna! Take your headphones off!"

He ripped them off his roommate's ears. "I was yelling out your name!"

"My name?" Tsuna asked panting at the corner of his bed.

"Hurry, or we're going to miss our first day!"

Tsuna looked at his alarm clock.

"It's almost eight!"

He jumped out of bed and grabbed his uniform. They couldn't be late the first day of school!

...

* * *

It's been three years hadn't it? Ever since Giotto had sent him to boarding school, he'd been living a life completely different than if he had stayed in Italy. He had to learn to take care of things by himself and once he proves that he can make it on his own, his nii-san would definitely come and see him again! If he just follows G's rules, he'll be able to return to Italy right?

...

* * *

"You're late!" the teacher yelled at both of them.

Fran stared at her blankly while Tsuna looked down.

"Technically, I could've been here earlier," Fran argued, "but there's a school policy that doesn't allow you to leave without your partner."

"Are you talking back to me!?" she screamed.

"Jeez, calm down," Fran rubbed his ear. "It's scary the way your eyes bulge."

"Fran!" Tsuna pleaded.

The whole class was quietly laughing as the teacher grew red. "GET OUT!"

…..

* * *

Damn it. It was the first day and they already pissed their teachers off. They were at the principal's office.

"Let me get this straight, you're teacher just told you to get out?" he asked.

They both nodded and he looked at them like delinquents.

"It was my fault!" Tsuna called out. "I woke up late…" He felt bad enough he was the reason they were in the office.

"No, the woman was just mean," Fran let out. "I didn't want to be in her class anyway."

He turned to his roommate. What was he doing?!

"Agh," the principal sighed heavily.

"The first day and I see you two's faces again. Doesn't this happen every year? Aren't you tired, both of you?!"

The two stayed quiet.

"What is it that you guys don't like about Mrs. Yukihiro, huh? She's been your homeroom teacher for all the years you two have been here!"

The principal rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Just try not to get sent back here anymore, got it?"

They both nodded and left the room.

….

* * *

"I'm sorry," Tsuna apologized.

"Hm?" Fran turned back.

"I really wanted this year to start really well and I messed it up again."

His friend waved his hand. "What are you talking about? I just really hate our homeroom teacher. She doesn't let us do anything."

_Trying to make me feel better won't make me feel any better! _He gave a guilty pout.

"Let me make it up to you, at least," he begged.

They both stood there looking at each other until Fran turned away.

"Okay," he said and started walking.

"Hey! Where are you going?! We still have to get back to class!"

"You said you were going to make it up to me, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Then help me look for someone. It's not like Mrs. Yukihiro wants us back in her class anyways."

Tsuna gave a sigh.

"Hold up!" he yelled and started after his friend.

* * *

"Who exactly are we looking for?" Tsuna asked as he got led into a building he never seen before. "And where are we?"

"It's the old physics building. It's not used anymore but some people still come here to hang out," Fran explained.

"In the middle of class?!"

Fran's phone started buzzing as they stopped in front a classroom marked with a big "X," and he took it out. "Ah, so demanding," he mumbled reading the text.

"Wait out here," he turned, "and make sure no one suspicious comes in."

"What?!"

His friend slammed the door and Tsuna just stood there in the hallway with a sweat drop on his face.

"Fran!" _Don't leave me out here if some weirdos are going to come here!_

He gulped in the silence as thoughts raced through his mind trying to calm him down. _I__t's okay. Fran wouldn't leave me out here if some creeps are going to pop out right? _Suddenly, he heard a loud clattering of metal.

"Ah!"

Footsteps started coming closer. _He said he wasn't mad! _

"Fran!" he started banging the door. "Open up!"

The footsteps suddenly stopped and he froze. C_rap!_

"Move," a menacing voice ordered.

He turned around and saw a tall dark figure towering above him. His hair shadowed his face and intimidating muscles still showed through his ruffled uniform. Tsuna's phone suddenly buzzed. He smiled weakly at the person and checked his phone.

[who is it?]

Why the hell was Fran texting him when he can get out here himself?!

[_Xanxus!_]

Wait, why was Tsuna texting back?!

He could hear a growl from the boy impatiently waiting and Tsuna unconsciously shrank to the floor. His phone buzzed again.

[That's a suspicious person! Can you please get rid of him for me? Thanks! :)]

Happy face?! His friend gave him a freaking happy face and left him for dead against a monster?!

"Move!" the boy yelled pushing him aside.

"Ah!" he stumbled out of the way. "Wait!"

He tried grabbing his shoulder but ended up smacking his ear. Xanxus snapped his head back. _He's gonna kill me!_

* * *

"Aaaaaggghhh!"

Tsuna's scream echoed through out the school except for places where people actually gave a damn. He could hear Xanxus' cannibalistic breathing right behind him.

"I'm sorry!"

His foot dragged across the floor as he made a turn but he was too slow.Panic screamed in his head as he saw the boy's face flash in front of him. He shut his eyes in fear. _D__on't kill me!_

Long arms wrapped around him when he felt himself hit the ground and stumble down the stairs until he slammed against a wall.

"Ugh,"

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up. Blood trailed the steps leading up to his feet.

"Xanxus!" he called out.

The boy on top of him was unconscious with blood flowing from his head. Another scream echoed the old building.

* * *

"You're back in my office. AGAIN."

They both sat in the principal's office.

"It's only been two hours and you guys...ugh!"

He couldn't even finish his sentence.

"I'm getting the feeling you're agitated sensei. Maybe you should take a day off," Fran remarked.

"Fran!" Tsuna let out.

The man slammed his desk and stood up. "THAT'S IT! BOTH OF YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?! YOU COME INTO MY OFFICE EVERY YEAR LIKE...LIKE...!" His voice trailed off.

He was breathing hard and almost seemed to cry. "Get out, just get out."

Both of them got up as they saw the principal slump back in his chair just before they closed the door.

"I'm going to get you for this..." the man vowed. "I'm going to get you for this."

* * *

Tsuna was comfortable in his bed until he could feel someone jostling him awake.

"Wake up,"

"Hmn?"

He opened his eyes and saw Fran getting dressed.

"We got moved to a new classroom. Hopefully, it's more interesting than our old one."

* * *

"Ah..."

At least they got there on time. Tsuna looked around his new classroom. They all looked scary as most of them slumped in their chairs with their feet up on the table. Some of them were even sleeping.

"What are you looking at?!" a guy barked.

He jumped back.

"Bel!" Fran called out. He leaped into a blonde guy's chair who almost fell back.

"Froggy!" he choked as he got squished. "What are you doing here?!"

"Hehe. I was looking for you. You know I got in trouble because you told me you were at the old building the other day!" Fran paused and looked down at Bel's lap which he was kneeling on, and then back up. "Are you turned on by seeing me right now?" he whispered.

"Do you want me to kill you?" the boy smiled taking out a handful of knives.

Tsuna stared wide-eyed. What the hell? They didn't check him for weapons?! And where was the teacher?!

"Hey!" someone called out. "Look, there's a rocket outside!"

Everyone crowded out the window.

"That's not a rocket you idiot! That's a missile!"

Everyone paused and looked at each other. A missile? They all snapped their heads and screamed.

"RUN!"

Everyone started bolting towards the door but a huge explosion rammed into the room before anyone got out.

"Aaaagggghhhh!"

The roof came falling down and desks flew everywhere. Tsuna slowly opened his eyes.

"Ugh," he moaned. He pushed a couple of wooden pieces from the ceiling. _I'm alive? _He rubbed his head then snapped his head up. "Fran!" he called out.

He got up and saw that everyone was also digging their way out from the rubble. He saw something move to his side and a person with green hair popped out.

"Ugh," he moaned holding on to his head. He scanned the ground. "Hey, stupid prince. You're not dead are you?"

A knife flew by Fran's head and grazed Tsuna.

"Woah!" Someone take his knives away!

"Ah,~" the green haired boy turned back to a blonde person throwing a piece of wood to the side. "You're alive."

Everyone else started coming up and looked at each other and started cussing.

"What the hell's going on?!"

They all yelled at each other until they heard a gunshot.

"It's first period. Why aren't you guys up at the gym?"

They all looked up and saw a man across the building holding a gun. He wore a black Italian suit with a fedora and he had that signature curly sideburns.

"Well?" He cocked his gun again.

Tsuna stood frozen. What kind of hell did they get sent too?!

….

* * *

They all stood at the gym. Most of the guys there were huge and looked like thugs. Tsuna looked at the person next to him. Wasn't that Xanxus? The taller boy noticed and glared at him.

"Start running, kora!"

This time it was a blonde man yelling at them.

"If you stop, I'm going to shoot you!"

Run? Everyone rushed ahead of Tsuna as he tried to move his legs faster when he eventually just started flinging them. Why was there a teacher threatening them with a gun?! He's never seen this part of the school before! They all started running faster when the man pointed his gun at them.

"Locking target!" he warned.

The students started cussing again. Tsuna heard panting behind him when Fran finally caught up.

"I'm dying," he complained. "If that guy didn't have a bazooka, I'd –"

He slumped to the ground.

"Fran!"

Tsuna stopped to pick his friend up when a missile exploded right beside him.

"No stopping!"

He gritted his teeth and got his friend on his back and started running.

"Too slow!"

Another shot fired beside him. He started running with tears in his eyes. _It's not like I can handle this too!_

"Aaaaggghhh!" Tsuna just started screaming trying to run faster.

His grip on Fran's legs slipped. _Damn it! _He looked back trying to fix it and tripped.

"Ack-!"

He hit the concrete head first and everything went black.

….

* * *

_Ah, onii-san. I'm starting to hate school._ Everything was calm until a voice started calling out to him.

"Hey,"

Someone was shaking him again.

"Ugh," he moaned. "I already got up for school….."

Someone shoved their foot up his side.

"Agh!" he screamed jolting awake.

He opened one eye and kept one closed from the pain. The sun blinded him but he could make out a familiar figure. Curly sideburns…

The man was laughing at him. Seeing Tsuna screaming in fear from Colonello was like a sadistic treat early in the year.

"Here, eat this."

He was giving him candy. Tsuna's eyes widened.

"_Rule number two," G's voice echoed in his head. "Never accept candy from older men. Especially if they strongly urge you to and give you reasons that doesn't sound right."_

"Hurry," he said shoving it closer to his mouth. "Aahh~"

Tsuna turned his head to the floor.

"No!" he yelled out.

"If you don't eat this you'll bleed to death."

What the heck was this guy saying? Tsuna shook his head violently. _"Especially if they strongly urge you to and give you reasons that doesn't sound right." _He didn't feel blood gushing out but there was a pain at his forehead and his side.

"You're bleeding!" the person yelled. He could hear a slight anger edging his voice.

_I can't trust this guy! _Tsuna started uncurling himself to lift himself up but a sharp pain pierced through his chest.

"Don't move!" the man yelled. "You tripped over a hurdle and cut yourself! If you keep moving, you'll bleed even more!"

This time Tsuna could feel the liquid soaking his shirt.

"Take off your shirt!" he ordered.

He felt a hand touch him and he froze.

"_Rule number three. The most important rule you need to understand. If someone tells you to take your clothes off, run. Just run."_

He slowly turned his head to the man in the Italian suit. This guy just broke all three rules. His heart started pounding in his ears.

"No!"

He's definitely a pedo!


	2. Night Time Stroll

"No!" the boy yelled.

"I need to see how deep your cut is!" Reborn argued.

Tsuna slapped his hand away. "You pedo!"

The whole place stopped and the man's face dropped blank. _What…? _His eyes sharpened as one of the kids burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha! A pedo!"

His hand tightened at his gun.

"Just die then."

He smacked the brunette on the head with the butt of his gun and stood up, the boy collapsing at his feet.

"Let someone else take care of you. And you," he pointed the gun to laughing kid.

"Huh?" The kid looked at him.

"Shut up,"

BANG!

…

* * *

"Ah, Reborn," Lal complained, "you didn't need to hit him on the head!"

She wrapped his bandages along his chest and forehead. He was making her waste her time dealing with all the kids he sends up in her office! Plus there was another two taking up space in the other beds. She looked back at the man leaning at the door.

He looked down at the kid lying on the bed unconscious. _You pedo! _His voice was echoing through his head. _You pedo! _

"Reborn!" Lal called out.

He snapped his head back to reality.

"Why didn't you bring him up here immediately? If he bled anymore, we would've had to take him to the hospital!"

He looked away. "That's why we have you right?"

He swaggered out the door dismissing her. It wasn't his fault! The kid didn't want to eat the candy, he wouldn't take off his shirt so he could see his chest, and he wouldn't open his mouth so he could shove the thing in there! He stopped walking. Wait. Did that just sound….

He gritted his teeth and cocked his gun. He wasn't! Damn it! But the kid's voice still kept ringing.

….

* * *

The cool air kissed his skin. Wow, it was unbelievably cold. But wasn't he in P.E. right now?

"Mhn..!" he groaned.

It felt like he didn't even have a shirt. He flung his arm across his chest to get warmer and felt bare skin.

"Ah!" he sat up.

He wasn't wearing a shirt! Memories of the incident came flashing through his mind. The man in the suit! Did he… Did he take off his clothes?! He frantically patted himself everywhere and breathed a sigh of half relief. He still had his shorts on.

"Hey! Stop screaming!"

He looked up following the demanding voice and saw a beautiful woman with long blue hair looking at him with her hands on her waist.

"If you're fine, then leave already. I'm not opening this place up all day."

He didn't know what was going on but by the looks of it, he was in the nurse's office.

"Here," she tossed him a shirt. "Don't go walking around half naked."

"Um, thanks." He mumbled slipping it on. A sharp pain pinched him as he lifted his arm.

"And take those two with you," she pointed at the other two beds.

"Fran?!" he looked at one of the beds.

He remembered him fainting. Fran was moaning as Tsuna looked at him and tossed him over his shoulder.

"Agh…" He was swaying his arms as if he was running.

"Stop it, Fran!" Tsuna grumbled moving his head from getting hit but it was useless.

He was about to open the door again when the woman called out.

"Aren't you taking him too?" she asked pointing to a dark spiky haired guy on the bed. He was smiling stupidly as he tossed around.

"I don't know him," he shook his head.

"Hm,…" she contemplated, "Alright."

She grabbed the guy's shirt and opened the window. "What story are we on again? The third one?"

"Wait!" Was she going to throw him out the window?! "I know him! I know him!"

She looked at him and smiled. His heart was racing just looking at her.

"Good," She tossed the boy at him. "Take care of your friend then."

…

* * *

It was already dark out and the street lights lit the concrete to just barely make out four feet ahead. Tsuna grunted as he trudged with Fran over his shoulder and dragged the other person with his other hand. What the hell was he supposed to do with the other kid he didn't even know?! He sighed heavily. But he couldn't leave him with that evil woman! So far, every adult he's met has been crazy or evil. The strongest image in his head was the man with the sideburns. Tsuna paused looking at the sky and breathed. How did he get it curly like that?...

…

* * *

"Agh!"

Students one by one were falling exhausted on the ground.

"Reborn, I think that's enough," Colonello nodded.

His friend didn't answer and kept a straight face as he focused on the students wincing on the ground. For some reason, he's been crueler than usual after first period.

"Go on and get dressed, kora!" Colonello yelled at them. "And don't lag behind or I'll make you run another mile!"

A kid turned and flipped him off. In not even a second, the blonde kicked him off the ramp.

"That's the reason why you're here, kora!"

The kid started crying and he walked off leaving him there.

"Hmph," he walked back to his friend.

As soon as everyone was gone, he dropped his shoulders. Man, he was tired! Especially today! The Arcobaleno unit was a special program to discipline rough kids but there were so much of them getting hurt lately! Was someone roughing it up behind their backs (in addition to their sadism)?

"Hey, what happened to that kid that called you a pedo?" he suddenly remembered. The kid was cut pretty bad.

"I'm not a pedo,"

"Right,"

The blonde's fast response ticked him off.

"But did you check on him?"

"He's fine," he closed his eyes. Why would he need to check on someone that obviously didn't want his help?

He could tell Reborn wasn't telling the truth. "Reborn!"

…

* * *

Why was he so worried about the kid?! He's fine! He opened the door to the nurse's office but the beds were empty.

"Where are the students?" he turned to Lal Mirch.

"Gone," she turned. "It's already eight so I kicked them out. Why?"

"Tch."

He turned around about to leave.

"I have their addresses though if you want them," she called out. "They all live in the dorms."

He stopped and turned back.

"I think they all live in the same ones. Let me check," she flipped through a stack of papers. She had piles of them on her desk and had to flip through all of them. Out of haste, she talked as she searched for the right ones.

"They don't look like delinquents we usually have," she continued, "Especially the brunette. He was really cute actually, and he was having a bad dream about some pervert coming after him."

Reborn's face stayed placid at the word; it had escalated from "pedo" to "pervert."

"Ah, here they are!" she turned to him. "Which one did you want?"

There was a pause. "…The brunette's."

Her face dropped as she stared at him. Her mouth slightly gaped open.

"Lal!" his face twitched.

She turned back clearing her throat. "He lives in the East wing 3rd building, room 702."

She shyly took a quick look back at him then slowly let it drift off as they locked stares. A weird aura stifled the room.

"Reborn," she let out, "Whatever your preference is, I don't care."

She looked at him with sincere eyes. Was the story already spreading?!

"Don't believe everything Colonello tells you!"

She looked down blushing.

"Lal!"

"He hasn't told me anything," she turned. "I haven't seen him at all today yet!"

They looked at each other with Lal Mirch expecting something. Why didn't she believe him?! He was telling the truth!

"If you hurry, maybe you'll catch them! They didn't leave that long ago and all three of them are injured," she seemed to cheer him on.

He grunted and hurried out of the room without saying thanks. He wasn't going to thank her with such weird thoughts!

….

* * *

Damn! He didn't realize it, but it was already getting really dark. The sun was already erased from the sky and the moon was fully drawn taking its place. His hurried footsteps were soundless as if he was gliding through the floor. If those three didn't make it home already, they were undoubtedly going to get jumped! The Arcobaleno district was different from the rest of the school where the elite students could walk relaxed around past midnight. Here, it was delinquent territory.

Up ahead, he saw shadows and stopped. It was the brunette! The boy trudged forward dragging the two boys behind him until he lightly threw himself against a wall for a break. His arms twisted in pain as he pulled his heavy arms away and let them drop from exhaustion. Panting, he looked up at the night sky.

"Hey!" Reborn was about to call out when another voice beat him to it.

….

* * *

He closed his eyes thinking with his mouth open in a grin. He was still thinking about the man with the Italian suit. He let out a small laugh. Now that he thought about it, man those sideburns were seriously one of a kind!

"Hey!"

Tsuna turned around as a group of boys came out from the shadows.

"I haven't seen your face around here," a blonde smiled. "You new around here?"

Tsuna could see his smug face was complemented by his pulled back hair as the guy stepped forward.

"No, um…" Tsuna looked around nervously, "I was just about to leave."

He reached out to grab Fran when another boy snatched his wrist.

"Hey! Gamma aniki was talking to you!"

His heart jumped.

"Calm down, Nosaru," the blonde spoke gently to the boy with long purple hair. "Let him go." He turned to Tsuna, "Sorry, but he has a short temper."

Nosaru glared and let go but the blonde grabbed his face instead.

"But that doesn't mean you weren't trying to ignore me." Gamma's face leaned close digging into Tsuna's eyes as the boy squirmed from his grip. "Didn't you know that this is our territory? No one," he paused, "**no one** wanders in our territory without our permission. So what the hell are you doing here?"

Tsuna suffocated as Gamma tightened his grip.

"Get off me!" Tsuna pushed.

The blonde stumbled back and smirked.

_Damn, damn, damn!_ It sent chills down his spine and Tsuna looked back at his unconscious friend and the spiky haired guy. _Damn it, Fran! Wake up!_

"You better be able to back up that push," the blonde warned.

…

* * *

Gamma could see the boy's hands were shaking. Damn, he was tiny! He almost felt bad they were picking on him.

"I'm not," the boy mumbled. He clenched his hands into a fist. "I'm not afraid of you!"

He almost froze from his answer as the boy quickly jerked. He grabbed the spiky haired guy he was dragging and flung him at them.

"Hey!" Gamma ducked, but it knocked the guys behind him. _What the hell is he throwing?!_

He looked back at his men when the boy pushed him down. The brunette immediately grabbed the guy he just threw and started running.

_Punk! _He quickly got up and started chasing after him.

…

* * *

Tsuna just kept on running not looking back. Just like G-nii said, never look back and keep your focus on the road ahead of you! He had to keep going!

He clenched his teeth from sudden pain at his sides. _Ignore it! _He told himself. He kept pushing it until he lost his grip and dropped the spiky haired boy. _Damn it! _He stopped and looked back.

"Oi!" the blonde jumped on him catching up.

He tackled Tsuna to the ground.

"Got you," he panted.

Tsuna squirmed and kicked him off hastily trying to get up. The older boy grabbed him by the collar pulling him back, punched him in the face and threw him to the wall.

"You're a slippery little brat," Gamma spat. "Now pay up. There's a toll in passing through these streets at this time."

He kicked him on the stomach. "You hear me?"

The kid didn't get up so he squatted down and grabbed his collar again. "Hey!" Gamma shook him.

"That's enough,"

The blonde turned around and a kick sent him flying from his face. _The hell?!_ He slowly got up grunting from pain and froze.

"You," his eyes grew wide.

A dark shadow stood in front of him wearing a frown and a black Italian suit. The trademark sideburns caught him paralyzed as a menacing aura engulfed him.

"You're out pretty late, Gamma," he heard the monotone voice.

The man pointed his gun.

"Wait!" he yelled. Damn his homeroom teacher!

…


	3. Private Hotel

BANG! BANG! BANG!

What was that?! His ears rang as he got up. His vision started to clear but everything was still hazy as he looked around. Everything was dark and his head throbbed and… was he in the East district?! What the heck was he doing here when he lived in the west wing?! He jerked his head and he saw a man in a suit putting a small guy on his back.

"…Sensei?"

The man turned. Intense anger pierced at him but dissipated the next moment.

"You're awake," the man stated. He gave a little jump to place the kid more comfortably behind him. "What was your name?"

"Takeshi," the answer escaped him out of reflex, "Yamamoto Takeshi."

"Then Takeshi, can you grab the kid next to you?"

He looked around and found a kid unconscious next to him. His green hair covered his face as the rest of him lay lifelessly still.

"Wait," Takeshi called out. He picked up the kid and looked back at him, "What's going on?!"

What were they doing with two unconscious guys?! And why was he knocked out just a moment ago?! Takeshi suddenly remembered what happened earlier.

"Hold on! You're the one that shot me earlier! And-"

Shouts from a distance cut him off.

"Hurry up! We have to catch up to aniki!"

Yamamoto grew stiff as he recognized the voice. Nosaru? He stared hard at the sensei in front of him and pulled it together. Night time. Gang members. Teacher.

"I don't have time," the man looked at him, "but we have to go unless you want to stay and deal with those guys."

For some reason he couldn't answer. He didn't really want to go but he didn't want to stay either. The man turned and kicked the wall causing the bricks to part creating an entrance.

"Hurry up, and follow my voice," he ordered.

He went in and Takeshi ran after him. The moment he stepped through the entrance, a loud bang closed it shut. He froze.

"Takeshi," the man's voice echoed sternly.

He straightened up and caught up to him. They needed to move on. His breathing deepened until a light glowed up ahead. His head snapped up and they both quickly raced ahead.

The light blinded his eyes and he looked around to what seemed like a hotel room.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"We're in a private building a few miles from Namimori."

The man walked ahead and set the kid on his back down on the sofa. Takeshi studied him but then let his eyes wander to the glass windows. One side of the room was all glass that overlooked the city.

"Woah!" Takeshi called out running to get a closer look. "You can see the school from here! Just how did we get here?!" he turned back.

The man looked tired and didn't answer him.

"Go ahead and put that guy you're carrying in the other room."

He pointed to a joint room at the left. Yamamoto's smile faded away as he realized something.

"Wait," Takeshi got serious, "why did you just save us back there? The teachers I know run away from fights. And you just said this is a private building! Why did you let me see how we got here?"

The man's fierce gaze caught him and he immediately wished he didn't even ask. His teacher stepped closer, cornering him at the glass wall.

"Are you going to tell someone about this place?"

Even though Takeshi was tall, the man towered him. His dark eyes looked down at him and held him captive. He clutched harder at the legs of the guy he was carrying.

"Not like I doubt you can get here again anyways."

The man pulled away and he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. Was he actually scared?

"What were you guys thinking going home this late?" the man slumped on the sofa just a distance from the boy he laid down.

It wasn't directed at him, but when he looked at the clock, he saw that it was still early.

"It's only nine," he argued.

The man looked at him and smirked. "Let me guess, you transferred from the Goro Athletic program, right?"

"Yeah," he thinned his lips, "how did you know I got here in a scholarship program?"

"Just looking at you gives it away." His smile sharpened to a stern expression. "Listen, this place is different than the normal part of school where you get pampered all the time. This is delinquent territory. This place is a battlefield, not a place where little kids like you can go run around as they please. You could get killed." His eyes became frosty as he said the last sentence. "Now go put that kid in the next room."

He didn't argue. He nodded and went to the other room and laid the kid down on one of the beds. What was the point of telling him this was delinquent territory? He knew! That's how he got into sports in the first place. Sports wasn't just his talent; it helped him to survive in a place like this.

* * *

Reborn breathed heavily. Agh…! What was he doing taking three kids to one of the private buildings?! He could get in serious trouble! He closed his eyes as he loosened his tie.

"Sensei,"

He opened his eyes to the spiky haired kid. His solemn face was all bright now and he fidgeted a bit like he wanted to say something.

"What?"

The boy puffed his chest. "I want to run!"

"What?..." A vein popped at the side of his head.

"I want to run!" he repeated. "You knocked me out before P.E. really ended and I've been asleep for most of the day so-"

SMACK!

The kid knocked out and fell on the floor. What the hell was this kid saying?! Didn't he just tell him it was dangerous to be out at night? He suddenly felt like smacking the kid some more.

"Seriously," he sighed.

He lifted the boy up and put him in the room with the other one and went back to the couch. A few moments of needed silence passed as he regained his head and he slowly switched his gaze to the sleeping kid next to him.

The boy's hair and clothes were ruffled but he seemed to be okay. There was a bruise where Gamma had hit him in the face and Reborn's face twisted as he remembered he had kicked him in the stomach too. Shit. Did his wound open? He reached over carefully lifting his shirt to see. His eyes scanned the boy's smooth stomach and the stitches Lal had made were still intact. That was good, at least. He traced the cut with his fingers across the boy's stomach when it suddenly twitched.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the boy shouted.

He jerked his hand away as the brunette rolled from the couch. He stumbled on the floor with his face blushing madly red.

"You pedo! What were you doing to me?!"

"Pedo?!" This kid!

"Stop moving!" he stood up, "I was checking if your cut got opened!" Why did he need to explain himself to this kid?! Damn! As soon as he took care of one kid, another one comes and acts up!

* * *

"You… You were touching me!"

Tsuna wrapped his arms around himself. He'd awoken to something warm touching him but when he saw what it was, he completely lost it. The man's touch felt so weird! It was still hot where his hand was and he grew smaller the longer he thought about it. Tsuna looked up and he saw the curly sideburns. So it was the same guy who wanted to take off his shirt earlier!

"The candy guy!"

* * *

The candy guy?! How the hell did he come to that?! By now, Reborn's eyebrow was tired from twitching. Should he smack this kid unconscious too? He glared at the brunette and he noticed the boy was digging into his wound.

"Get back here," he ordered, "Or you're going to start bleeding again!"

He reached over to grab his wrist and the boy pushed him back.

"No!"

The boy fumbled trying to get up and ran to the other room.

"Don't go in there!" Reborn yelled running after him. If he goes and wakes up the other two, he was seriously going to throw all of them out back into the street! Handling one kid at a time was enough!

* * *

What was he doing with the candy guy?! There was furniture everywhere that he kept stumbling on. Was this a hotel room or the guy's house?! He pushed the door open to another room and his legs froze. His heart started to beat faster.

"Fran…?"

It barely came out as a whisper. His mouth gaped open as he saw the spiky haired guy in one of the beds and Fran in the other.

"Hey!" the man snatched his wrist from behind. "I told you not to go in here!"

"Why do you have two guys in your room?!"

He jerked his arm away but the man didn't let go. He was shaking as they stood in the doorway and he didn't doubt it if he was going to cry.

"Hey," the man called out it a softer voice.

It was still demanding but he felt him let go of his wrist. Tsuna kept his eyes closed and he felt a cool hand go through his hair.

"Calm down," the man repeated.

His hand gently bumped him on the forehead as he took it back. Tsuna forced himself to open his eyes and he saw the man calmly standing in front of him with a hint of irritation. He only wore his white collared shirt, slightly unbuttoned, without his tie and fedora. For the first time, he saw how this guy actually looked like. He didn't look untrustworthy but thoughts filled his head of who exactly this guy was.

"W-who are you?" he managed to let out.

"Your teacher,"

"Teacher?!" For some reason he couldn't believe it. And he said it flatly too!

"No," Tsuna argued. That couldn't be right. "You're…. you…"

He couldn't see it. "WHAT TYPE OF TEACHER HAS THESE TYPES OF HOBBIES?!"

"Hobbies?!" The man's face scrunched up. (what did Tsuna take him for?!)

He was about to grab him when he ducked under and ran past him back to the main room.

"Help!" Tsuna screamed.

He ran looking for an exit. He flicked his head this way and that searching when someone pulled him.

"Let go!"

He couldn't move his arms as the man grabbed them so he started kicking and fell off balance. He landed on the sofa but he still kept on fighting with the man on top holding him.

"I said let go!"

"Then stop moving!"

He jerked his elbow hitting the man's face and both of them stopped. Tsuna's breathing slowed as he opened his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry!" he stuttered. He didn't mean to hit him! Even though this guy might be a pedo, he didn't want to hit anyone!

He could see the mark on his face and he started to feel guilty.

"Hey," he reached out. "Are you okay?"

The man turned and glared at him and he took his hand back. A dark heavy aura started emanating from him and the guilty feelings Tsuna had flew away. He tried to speak but the grip on his wrist tightened that it hurt and his heart started to race again.

* * *

"HEEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!"

Reborn pushed the boy's arms down as he squirmed under him.

"You can scream all you want and no one will hear you," an evil smile spread through his face.

He felt like torturing him before he could let the boy go. Hitting him on the face and labeling him three different names: pedo, pervert, and candy man; yeah that felt like a legitimate excuse. The terrified look on the boy's face was priceless as his lips quivered that it urged him to continue.

"Please," the boy blubbered, "don't use me."

He was breathing fast as he spoke.

"Use you for what?" he asked confused.

He was actually being serious but it seemed like the kid misunderstood it as teasing when he asked. He began to shake even more.

"I don't know! You're hobbies and candy! I just-"

"I don't have hobbies!" (At least not the ones you're thinking of!)

Reborn pushed the boy's arms away and got off of the sofa. He couldn't continue. Reborn sighed disappointed. Maybe he scared the kid too much without even trying?

"And it's not candy! It's a chemically engineered pill for healing wounds!"

How did he get all these misunderstandings?! Trying to clear them up is impossible!

* * *

Tsuna sat himself on the couch and stared at the man's back. He wasn't looking at him anymore as he was explaining things to him. Still, he could see his frustration as the man's shoulders went up and down when he took each breath.

So it wasn't candy? This guy was just trying to help him. He looked at the red marks on his wrists and thought nothing of it. If it was guys giving candy that G-nii warned him about, then that means this guy giving pills isn't bad. It was to help him when he was bleeding, right? But that still didn't answer why there were guys in his room, him included.

There was stillness in the room and Tsuna tugged at the back of the man's shirt and he turned back looking at him annoyed.

"I'm sorry," he spoke before the man could answer.

* * *

Reborn looked at him. Why was he apologizing? He kept staring and noticed a red stain starting to cloud where he held his stomach.

"You're bleeding,"

He pulled the boy's hands away and lifted up his shirt. This time, he didn't run away.

"Hold it here," he took the boy's hands and pressing it on his wound, "and let me get some bandages."

"No!" the kid quickly snatched his his shirt closer to him before he could get up.

"Let go," he was about to push him away until he saw the kid shrinking. "Hey," he wanted to lift up his chin but he kept getting smaller and held his shirt tighter.

Did it hurt that much?

* * *

"Ah," Tsuna grunted.

The pain hurt so much. He dug his fingers deeper in his side and felt a warm sticky liquid slowly slip through his fingers.

"Stop being stubborn and bear with it,"

The man called to him but he ignored it. He could feel him staring at him after he stopped talking but he couldn't open his mouth to speak. Suddenly, he heard shuffling and the man lifted him up.

"What are you doing?" he cried out in pain.

* * *

Reborn took off his shirt and pressed against the wound and lifted the boy up so that the boy sat in front of him on the sofa between his legs. The boy finally looked up at him surprised but he was just so irritated. He knew how to deal with punks who wouldn't listen. He took the bottles of pills out from his pocket and leaned forward setting it on the table. His bare chest pressed against the boy's back.

"Here," he he rested his chin on the boy's shoulder right beside his ear as he talked. "You decide whether you take the pills or not, or we can stay like this all night until your wound heals."


	4. Pretensions

**Hey guys! I put up this chapter a lil earlier than I should but it's Christmas right? Hope you guys enjoyed your christmas with mucho gifts and love. Merry Christmas guys! :)**

* * *

"Heeeeelpp!"

Fran tossed around in the bed but someone kept screaming. He lazily opened his eyes and sat up. Who the heck was yelling. He rubbed his eyes and tossed his legs out of bed and rubbed his eyes. Why was it so dark? There was another bed across the room but he couldn't tell who it was. He walked over and saw a spiky haired boy knocked out.

_I don't know this person..._

"Let go!"

He heard another scream and turned his head to the slightly opened door where a bright light glowed. He stepped out and followed the scream.

"Help!" the same voice cried.

His eyebrows scrunched as he looked around. Who's place was this? He couldn't recognize any of the furniture. He turned to the screaming and saw a man handling Tsuna on the sofa.

"Tsuna?" his voice was too soft to be heard and they continued.

"Hmn..." he rubbed his eyes.

This was too weird. Maybe he was dreaming. He was dreaming right?! Yeah! He yawned and walked back to the bedroom and got back in bed. Tsuna was okay. What the heck was he dreaming about? Time passed as he snuggled against the soft pillow and his eyes snapped open. Wait! Something was wrong.

He tossed the bed sheets and jumped out of bed and hurried back to living room. His breath fastened as he went back to check on the sofa.

"Tsuna," he called out again.

His friend was fast asleep on the sofa with a guy hugging him from the back; his arms wrapped around Tsuna's waist. The man was half naked with his shirt stained red on one hand, but his friend didn't seem to mind. Tsuna rested his head against the bare, muscular chest while tightly holding onto one of the man's hands.

Fran's shoulders dropped. What was he so worried for? The two were sleeping so peacefully. He dismissed the pills on the table and everything else. He slowly walked back to bed and fell asleep.

* * *

A warmth slipped from his back but Tsuna ignored it. A while passed and he opened his eyes again. Light was shining through but his vision cleared and he saw a half naked man standing in front of the glass windows. A yellow, orange light began to light the city outside and it looked like the perfect background for the guy drying his hair in front of him. His muscles on his back showed as he turned to him.

"You're finally awake,"

His sideburns didn't seem to lose its curl at all even when wet. It was like a dream and Tsuna began to fade away again.

* * *

"Hey," a voice shook him awake.

He opened his eyes again and saw a someone's face.

"Wake up," the boy smiled.

Tsuna scrambled to sit up and looked around. He was still at the man's place! The boy laughed at him.

"We're late again," Fran sighed. He sat at the arm of the sofa patiently waiting for him to get up. "C'mon. We gotta get ready."

"Wait!" Tsuna cried, "what's going on?!"

Everything seemed so unreal. They were still at the man's place but where was the guy with the sideburns?

"Don't you remember anything yesterday?" Fran looked at him. Tsuna only returned a blank stare. "Well, I don't either but look at this," he took out his phone. "I think my dreams were telling me something."

He gave Tsuna his phone and he jumped from the sofa.

"What the heck is this?!" he fumbled with the phone trying to delete it.

"Hey!" Fran reached out to grab his phone. "Don't delete the picture!"

It jumped from their hands and flew to the spiky haired guy.

"What are you guys fighting about?" he caught the phone and Tsuna tackled him before he could see anything.

He snatched the phone away. _Yes!_ _Delete!_

"Stop!" Fran kicked it away.

_Nnoooo! _His face drained white as the phone flew across the room. They all rushed over to the other side following it.

"Where is it?!"

The two stood there looking until a white glittered at the corner of his eye under the table.

"There!" Tsuna yelled.

His friend jerked and they both jumped for it.

"Stop it, Tsuna!" Fran wrestled him on the floor.

"You can't keep that picture!" he struggled to push him back. "That was a traumatizing moment of my life!"

"Well, it didn't seem like it!"

They kept struggling on the floor until a loud knock came.

"Excuse me, but are you guys done?"

The two looked up and saw a tall guy in a suit with an old style gangster haircut. He stood at the door looking down at them awkwardly as the two froze.

"Kusakabe-senpai?" Fran took the chance and shoved Tsuna back quickly taking his phone back. "What are you doing here?"

"Ow!" the guy stared at them as they got up.

"I'm here to take you guys back. And how do you know my name?"

"Oh," he smiled. "I remember Bel had to deal with you a lot last year before you graduated."

Kusakabe kept a straight face.

"Ah.." Fran's smile faded. Maybe he shouldn't have told him that.

* * *

"Reborn," Colonello called out. "Something wrong?"

He snapped away from his thoughts and looked away.

"No," he lied.

They got out of the elevator and walked ahead. Reborn kept a placid face along the way but his thoughts screamed at every nerve in his body.

_Agh! Damn it!_ How could he have fallen asleep like that?! What happened in the morning was still etched in his mind. It was like he was hugging the kid when he woke up! And it was a guy too! His face started turning pale. What was he doing...? His friend still looked at him worried, not swallowing his lie.

_Stop looking.. _He covered his mouth with his hand.

"Reborn!" another voice called to him from a distance in the hallway. They both stopped.

"Lal," Colonello turned back. She seemed worried.

"The private building overlooking the East District was turned on. What happened?" she panted as she rushed over. She only looked to him and the blonde turned to both of them.

"What are you guys talking about? The private building?" Colonello was clueless. "Was there an emergency?"

Reborn squinted his eyes at her. _Lal! _He looked at Colonello and back at her, but she looked back at him with the same energy.

"Nothing happened yesterday," he brushed her off and continued walking.

"But the building!"

He started to walk faster.

"Reborn!" she chased after him. "What about the brunette? Tsunayoshi, right?"

"He got home," he walked even faster.

She quickened her steps as well. "Did you see him?"

"Is it about the kid I told you to check up on yesterday?" Colonello caught up to them and cornered him on the other side.

"What are you guys-?!"

"Because if it is, there was a minor gang activity with the Giglio Nero I had to take care of yesterday. We have to make sure other kids didn't get caught up with their commotion last night."

Reborn quickly went inside his classroom. _They got more than caught up. They got tangled up and started the whole mess! _He turned around.

"I assure you guys," he forced a smile, "that those kids and the brunette are fine."

BAM! He slammed the door. The two stood outside skeptical.

* * *

"What's wrong with him?" Colonello scratched his head.

Lal Mirch didn't look at him and blushed as she stared at the door.

"Kora!" he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Why are you blushing?!"

"Eh?!" she jumped and blushed even harder. "Get off!" she pushed his face away and stomped off.

"Hey!" he smirked. "Lal! What's going on? Something I don't know?" He hurried after her.

"It's nothing!"

"Both of you are saying it's nothing!"

* * *

As they all got dropped off, they quickly took a shower and changed their clothes.

"Ah-choo!"

"Are you okay, Tsuna?" Fran turned to him as they walked down the stairs from their dorm room.

"Yeah," he wiped his nose with his sleeve. "I'm okay."

As they got outside, the guy Kusakabe was still waiting for them to take them to school.

"Umm, Kusakabe-san," Tsuna told him as they saw him, "it's okay to not take us to school. We can get there ourselves."

"No," he stood up from leaning against the hood of the car, "I have to make sure you guys get to school."

"Huh? Why?"

"I was ordered to by the Committee." He opened the car door, "Get in."

_The Committee?! Did the school know about what happened last night?! Wait. _He remembered something. The sideburns guy said he was a teacher! Once he steps in school...

"No, umm... I think I'll pass," Tsuna turned around.

"Just get in,"

"Ah!" some one laughed as he got pulled in the car. He squeezed next to someone and fidgeted as the door slammed shut. He looked up to the guy sitting next to him who was already sitting in there.

"Still traumatized?" the spiky haired guy teased.

* * *

VRRROOOMMM!

A black motorcycle screeched up right in front of him. His recognizable white helmet engraved with purple let everyone know who it was.

"You're late,"

The rider took off his helmet. "Tch. I know,"

"Idiot! You're a teacher now!" Reborn punched him on the face. "You have to set an example!"

"Agh!" Skull jumped off his bike and tried to strike back and missed. "You can't keep treating me like this, Reborn! I'm an adult too!"

He looked away. "I don't even want to know the reason why you're late."

"Hey!" Skull glared at him.

His lackey kept trying to get his attention but his mind was somewhere else. _Kusakabe should be here by now. _He looked at the entrance of the parking lot.

_Did he take the pill or not? _When he woke up, it didn't seem like the bottle was touched, but the kid seemed fine. He didn't have time to check since he had to rush over to school so it seemed like nothing happened yesterday; but if he didn't take the pill, Lal was seriously going to come at him if he needed stitches again.

* * *

Tsuna tensed up as they entered the underground parking lot. He saw him.

"Umm.. Kusakabe-san? Isn't there anywhere else you could park the car?"

He looked at the mirror to their reflection, "It's closer here than the main gate." He stopped the car right in front of the man he didn't want to see. The spiky haired kid noticed him tense up.

"Don't worry," Yamamoto patted him on the back, "it'll be fine."

Tsuna looked at the guy who he recently just got to know his name with happy eyes. Did he understand?

They got out of the car and he warily looked at the guy with the suit. He was standing next to someone total opposite of him. He looked like a punk who had dark purple hair with a chain hanging from his ear to his mouth. The man noticed him looking at his piercing and he turned away. _He's kinda cool..._

* * *

Why wasn't the kid looking at him? He walked up to the brunette.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Hmn," Tsuna nodded. His eyes shifted away and he glared at him.

"Hey," he roughly patted the boy's head to turn it. _Look at me when I talk to you. _"Did you take it?"

"Huh?" he looked up at him.

Reborn kept glaring. "The pill,"

* * *

Skull looked at the small brunette frantically shaking his head and back at Reborn. _What was going on?_ His eyebrows scrunched together. _What pill?_ Whatever it was, the look on Reborn's face changed as soon as the boy got out of the car. Those weren't the eyes of a teacher; they were the eyes of something serious.

He zoned out from all the sounds until Reborn took a quick look at him and he snapped back to reality.

"Let's go," he said leading the three students behind him. He nodded to Kusakabe and the guy went back to the car and drove off.

"You too, Skull," he turned back. "You better get to class before they destroy your whole classroom again."

"W-what are you talking about?!" Don't embarrass him in front of students! "I can handle my class, Reborn!"

He watched them go focusing on the back of his previous mentor and gulped.

A hunter! They were the eyes of a hungry hunter who wanted the attention of its target!

* * *

"Hey, Xanxus," Squalo called out to him. "Oi!"

He ignored him and kept staring at the empty seat in the third row. Where the hell was Sawada?!

"Hmn~" Lussuria groaned. "He seems really sad just staring at the desk."

Squalo scoffed. "Oi! Fuc-"

BAM! He slammed his fists on the table. If Tsuna wasn't coming, then he's going to come and drag him here! He suddenly stood up and the door slid opened.

* * *

Wait... Why was the guy following them to their classroom?! He kept looking at him as they got closer and closer to his classroom. _Noooo! Please, don't tell me! _They all stopped in front of the same room and the man looked back and slid the door open.

"Well, get in," he smirked.

His mouth dropped open as they walked in. So he wasn't lying when he said he was a teacher! But to be his... Luck was seriously playing a twisted game! Surprisingly, the class was full. As they walked in, Tsuna saw Xanxus standing up glaring up him.

"Ah!" he opened his mouth to say something but Xanxus jerked his gaze away and sat back down kicking his table. "Hmn..." He looked down.

He walked slowly to his seat and his teacher got the class started.

"It's your second day here, but some of you may still not know me," he looked directly at Tsuna. "I'll be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the years you'll be in Namimori." Another smirk pasted on his face.

_Gack! _It's like a bullet shot him. He had to spend the rest of his years with him?! Wasn't last night enough?! Memories of yesterday flashed through his mind.

Reborn. That's what the guy in the parking lot called him earlier, right? His face started to get hot. Reborn-sensei's arms around him. Reborn-sensei's warm breath at his ear and leaning to him tightly. Reborn-sensei..._ We can stay like this all night..._

_Stop it!_ He shook his head and covered his ears. _Why were they so warm?! _

"Sawada, Tsunayoshi,"

He looked back up at his teacher again.

"Sawada," he was calling his name...

"Sawada,"

"Tsuna!" Fran silently nudged him. "He's calling you."

"Ah! He-" Thock! A marker hit him on the head. "Ow!"

"Raise your hand when I call your name." he looked back at the roll book.

A pout drew on his face as he bit his lip. "Hai, Reborn-sensei..."


	5. Follow Me

_Sawada… Sawada…_

He sat at his desk wondering. His face was so red when he called his name.

_Wait! _Why was he even thinking about that?! He gave a small breath. Maybe he just needed some rest. He looked out the window to the field and saw him along with Yamamoto and Fran. Damn it! He's everywhere! What were those two even doing at the baseball field? It was time for club activities! Haven't they joined their own clubs last year? For sure, only Yamamoto was interested in baseball. He rested his head on his palm. If they didn't have anything better to do, maybe he should try and play with them. Well, just a little. Just to teach them that they needed to join their own club.

….

"Are sure you're okay, Tsuna?"

He felt light headed and hot. "Yeah," he smiled.

"You don't look so well," Yamamoto placed his hand on his forehead.

"No, really," he smiled softly swaying his hand away.

He looked at him skeptically. "Well, thanks for returning the ball," he changed the topic, "I didn't think I'd hit as far as the science building."

"No problem," he smiled. "We were there anyways."

"Hey," a bright idea popped into Yamamoto's head, "since you guys are here, want to try playing?" He held up the ball on his hand. "It's pretty easy, look-"

BANG!

"Ah!" The ball exploded on Yamamoto's hand.

"Sawada!" They all turned with their hearts partly racing and saw a particularly angry delinquent coming over.

He held his gun tightly at his right hand and glared at Tsuna. His permanently angry eyebrows scowled at him.

"Ah!" Tsuna shrunk back. _Why is he mad?!_

He was about to come up to him when Yamamoto blocked him.

"Is there something that you need?" he looked at Xanxus.

"Move," he shoved him aside and grabbed Tsuna's arm.

"Ah! Wait! Why are you taking me?" He pulled him away and dragged him off.

"Don't you think you should be a little bit more gentle?" Fran called out.

Xanxus kept pulling until a different person blocked him.

"Is there something going on here?"

"Reborn-sensei!" Tsuna called out.

His teacher's eyes glared at the guy holding his arm and then back at him. "Well?"

"Um…," the brunette looked at Xanxus, "No. It's alright."

"Sawada!" an angry aura let out from his teacher as he said his name.

…

He came to play around for a bit, but this is what happens when he gets here?! He waited for Tsuna to say something so that he could do something to this delinquent. His messy collar, loose tie, and the attitude he was giving ticked him off. Especially the way he was roughly handling Tsuna. But nothing came.

Xanxus tugged on his arm again and continued stomping forward, haughtily passing him. _Say something!_

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto called out but Fran held him back.

"Don't,"

Reborn was about pull out his gun when he heard him continue.

"Let it go. This has happened a lot, already. Tsuna told me before not to interfere since Xanxus is his-"

_His what?! _Reborn jerked his head at Fran. _Xanxus is his what?!_

The kid stopped midway and stared at him as he caught himself and relaxed. He looked away. Damn. What was he getting so caught up for?!

…..

"Xanxus!" Tsuna called out to him repeatedly but he didn't stop until he got to the physics building. "Hey!"

He turned and grabbed the boy's collar and shoved him up against the wall.

"Fuck! Why were you fucking late today?" He threw his hand away.

"Last night, I-I had to go somewhere so I wasn't at the dorms. I g-got home late."

Tsuna looked at him with his big brown eyes. But what type of shit excuse was that? Xanxus walked closer pushing Tsuna against the wall.

"You tell me," he slammed his fist on the wall next to Tsuna's head and cornering him, "where you're going to be. I don't care where, you tell me or I'm going to find you." He paused and looked down at him.

Tsuna's face turned redder and didn't say anything. He just looked down and bit his lip.

"Hey," he dropped his arm.

The brunette looked up at him tired and his eyes rolled back.

"Hey!" he yelled again and the boy fell in his arms.

His thin hands grabbed at Xanxus' shirt as he tried to cling on to him. Tsuna's head dug into his chest continuing to breathe harder. Through his shirt he could feel it. His head was burning!

"Tch. You little shit. Where were you last night?"

….

His what?! What is he to him?! Why didn't the kid finish his sentence?! He finished filing away the papers and stuffed them in the drawers. And why did he let Xanxus take him away like that? He remembered Tsuna's worried face. If he's going to make that face, why didn't he say anything either?! Reborn gritted his teeth and slammed the drawer. He really needed to cool off. Good thing it was the end of the day or he would've done something to the kids. Ideas came rolling in his mind.

"Sensei," a voice called out to him as he was about to get up from his desk. He looked up. "Can I talk to you?"

It was the green haired kid. Just the kid he was thinking of.

"What is it?" he motioned for him to come in and sat back down.

"Well," he avoided eye contact, "I had this dream."

"If you have personal problems, then talk to the school counselor."

"No, nothing like that," he waived his hands. (He wasn't sure what was "like that") "You see, it involves you and a friend of mine."

Reborn looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Fran took out his phone and showed him the picture. "Take a look."

His eyes grew wide and he immediately made for the phone.

"Woah!" Fran pulled back. He twirled his hand and the phone disappeared.

"Give me the picture," Reborn stood up. His eyes pierced through the kid sending him chills.

…..

He couldn't back down. Fran stood his ground.

"Sensei, if you want the picture then help me on something,"

In half of a second, his teacher was gone from his desk and already coming at him.

"Wait!" he dodged the long arms aiming at him. "I'll give you the picture!"

He stumbled against a desk and rolled to the next one as a fist came falling down. _He's fast! _His teacher stopped chasing him and reached for the gun in his pocket.

"And I'll also tell you about Xanxus!"

The man stopped and looked at him. _Ah…_ His heart was pulsing rapidly. _It's a good thing I noticed earlier. _

"I'll delete the picture and tell you what exactly Xanxus is to Tsuna," he carefully studied his teacher, "but you have to help me first."

…

"But why does he have to take my bed?!"

Xanxus cleared the bed and threw his stuff at him. All of it fluttered in the air.

"Hey! I just got that yesterday!" Squalo caught a magazine. Did his roommate even know how expensive these things were?! "Hey! Shit hea-"

"Shut up!" he threw another one at his face.

"Ack!" he stumbled back and grabbed the magazine from his face and looked at it. "This one's the New Year Special with Miura in the cover!"

A serious vein throbbed at his temple as he looked at the brute he lived with. Xanxus ignored him and tucked the brunette in his bed and grabbed a chair.

"Seriously," Squalo gritted his teeth.

…...

He sat there staring at Tsuna's face. He was still breathing hard and colored pink up to his ears. Xanxus leaned back in the chair and placed his head to rest on his knuckles.

"Hmn..."

Squalo stood in the center of the room staring at him.

"Hmn..."

A long moment passed and Squalo still waited for him.

"Hmn..."

"ARE YOU STUPID?!" his roommate suddenly burst out. He stomped out of the room and came back with a wet towel.

"Here," he handed it out to him, "put it on his forehead!"

"The hell is this for?!"

"Shut up! It'll cool him!" For Tsuna, Xanxus paused for a second and took it from him, doing exactly what he just said. "You've done this how many times already and you still don't know what to do!"

Tsuna's face relaxed from the wetness of the towel and Xanxus' shoulders relaxed as well.

Squalo sighed. "I'll go make something for him to eat when he wakes up," he headed to the kitchen. "And make sure you change that towel every now and then!"

…...

Reborn followed Fran. What was this kid's game? He waited for the kid to show any weaknesses so he could pin him and take his phone away. But where was he hiding it?! All his pockets were flat and he didn't hold anything. They continued on through an old part of the school where ancient trees and plants grew too wildly. It was all green until from the side, he saw red.

"Stop," he grabbed the kid's shoulder, "where are we going?"

Fran looked back at him, "You should know, sensei." He pointed to the shrubs with red berries up ahead.

"The Detention Hall?!"

Fran slipped away and turned to face him, "You said you'd help."

Reborn just stared at him. They couldn't go any further.

"He's been calling me" he continued. "I've been waking up in the middle of the night and sometimes I can't sleep. That's why I've been able to wake both Tsuna and me up to get to class at least at a decent time. But he comes into my dreams," he looked at him, "he wants me to help him."

The trick with the phone flashed to his mind. There was only one kid he remembered last year who liked doing that during class.

"Give me the phone," he held out his hand. This time he wasn't going to negotiate.

"I can't," he stepped back. Reborn walked forward. "I don't have it. I sent it to him."

The wind blew and rustled the leaves like they were laughing.

"Mukuro-san has it."

…...

"Hello?" Lal answered the phone.

She just got back from treating all the kids from an explosion that blew the entire side of the science building into pieces. How could Verde let all those kids experiment with nitroglycerin?! That thing can explode on your face! Just because he didn't feel like teaching doesn't mean he could let them experiment and "see for their selves!"

"Is this the school nurse?"

"Yes," she wiped the smear of dust on her face. That was odd. It sounded like a student was calling her. "Who is this?"

"Look, there's a really sick kid in my room. I can't bring him to you, but can you come over?"

"How bad is he?" Was this a prank?

"I don't know, but he's getting worse," he sounded sincere but a little irritated.

"Alright, I'm coming," she reached over to her desk and grabbed a pen, "Where are you right now?"

"Room 1010 in the South Building,"

Room 1010? That was part of the remodeled building, wasn't it? Her hands tensed around the phone. That was Varia territory!

…...

CRACK!

The branch snapped under him but he jumped off just in time. He looked back panting.

"I didn't mean it sensei," he tried to soften his teacher up.

From below, he could see a black flash catching up to him. _Dang! _He wasn't getting less angry. He started to run even faster. Now, only if he tried this hard in P.E.

His legs broke through the maze of trees and stumbled forward.

"Hah..." he panted.

His teacher rustled out from the leaves right behind him and he side stepped away to create some distance.

"We're here," he told him.

They both looked at an old building. Leaves had started to wrap around the outer walls and the paint, chipped, maintained a dingy color. His teacher glared at him before moving.

"I swear, it's in there," he assured him.

Reborn looked away and focused on the building. He analyzed the old place and took out a yellow pacifier from his pocket. _What's that?_ Fran stared at the baby accessory. Reborn stepped forward to the entrance doors and bit the pacifier.

"Chaos!"

BOOOM! A shock wave rumbled past him and a ringing filled Fran's ears. His teacher's mouth kept moving but he couldn't hear a thing.

…...

"Agh..." Ken groaned in the seat next to him.

"Quiet!" one of those bandaged ghouls smacked him on the head.

Seriously, what were those things?! As far as the Vindice where strong, they weren't really pretty to look at. And their Detention Hall matched them perfectly. Hellish. No light, no sound, nothing came through these walls. He leaned back in his chair bored out of his mind.

_Mukuro-sempai. _

Fran's voice echoed in his head. He immediately drew a smile on his face and before one of the Vindice could notice, he put his head down on the table and changed his eye.

_What is it?_ He tried to reply back but his connection was immediately cut.

Then he felt something on his hands. He fidgeted to look under his desk and saw a white phone. _What's this?_ He opened it and saw a pineapple on the background. _The hell? _An evil smile popped at the side of his face. Was he mocking him?! He kept flipping through his phone. Why would he send him this? There was no connection here. It was useless to look at his contacts to see who he could try to talk to. He immediately headed to his pictures.

When he woke Fran up yesterday, there was something odd. He wasn't in his room. It seemed like he was in a hotel but Fran didn't know where he was. He told him to take a picture to help him and make sure in case something happens to him, he'll know where he was last night. Hopefully he didn't wake up to anything bad. He waited for the pictures to load.

"What are you doing?!" a chain wrapped around his neck and jerked him up. His head pulled back as the chain tightened.

"Oi," he smiled weakly at one of the masked men. He didn't get to see anything!

"What is that?" another walked toward him and grabbed the phone away. "Where did you get this?"

"That's mine!" a familiar voice echoed through the room.

The whole room looked to the door.

"Fran," he looked in disbelief. He actually came!

"Reborn," Jagger stepped forward reacting quickly. "You are not allowed in here,"

"My student came back to take his phone," he looked to the one holding it.

Jagger turned back to see what he was pointing to and then back at the man in the suit.

"How did it get here?"

"You tell me,"

Mukuro strained his head to see. The man's eyes were shadowed by his fedora. _Hold on..._The man suddenly looked up and glared at him. _Reborn! _That's his homeroom teacher! He uneasily kept his eyes up. Well, that explains how Fran got here.

"What's so important about this phone for you to come here?" the Vindice continued.

His teacher stood still. "Nothing, you can destroy it if you want," he brushed him off.

"What?!" Fran stepped forward but Reborn held him back with his hand. Jagger took the phone from his subordinate and crushed it with his bare hands. "My phone!" Fran's face dropped. The pieces gingerly fell from the man's bandaged hands.

"But I want _him_," Reborn looked at Mukuro.

"Him?" Jagger turned to him too. "He still has two months left here. He can't leave."

"Let me take him," he insisted, "I need him."

"What for?"

…...

He didn't pay attention. In slow motion, pieces of his phone were still falling to the ground. _Why?..._

"I"ll bet you him,"

His head snapped up as he heard his name. "If I lose, you can have him too."

"Woah, what's going on?" he turned to his teacher.

Jagger's eyes locked on him. "Fine,"

The chains around Mukuro's neck slinked back and they unlocked the chain around his ankle connecting him to the desk. He slowly stood up and they pushed him forward.

"As soon as you start running, we'll come after you," the Vindice's voice growled. "When I catch them, they're mine."

"Wait, what's going on?" Fran repeated. And what's this about him being part of a bet?!

His teacher turned to him. "You better run for your life, or you can spend the rest of the year here to rot with your friend."

Fran looked at Mukuro's uneasy face. "Sempai?"

"Run!"

His teacher flew past him and Mukuro grabbed his arm.

"Start running!"

He flung his legs and started sprinting but then looked back. Like staring into the pits of hell, the Vindice stared right into his eyes and disappeared in a flash. _Where did they go?! _ One appeared below and grabbed his leg.

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH!"

…...

Lal hurried to the parking lot and got on her motorcycle. If she was going to the Varia territory, should she call Colonello? She put on her helmet and shook the thought. No, she'll be fine. She started her bike and went off.

_1010. _Like she expected, the buildings were remodeled. It didn't even look like a dorm house anymore! Amazing how rich these kids actually were! It looked more like a vacation house in the suburbs than anything! She went up the steps and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" a student answered the door. A portion of his hair was green and fell to the side of his face and his eyes were covered by dark red glasses.

"I-"

"You're the school nurse!" he brightened in a girlish smile. "Come in! Hurry!" he pulled her in.

"Ah!" He closed the door behind her as she looked around. _So this is the Varia base.._. Even the inside was polished clean!

"This way," the guy called to her. "They're upstairs."

He hurriedly led her to the room at the end of the hallway upstairs.

"Bossu~," he opened the door.

Inside, she saw a silver haired guy waiting in the middle of the room, and a dark haired one sitting beside the bed who looked like he was sleeping. She tried to take a closer look at his face as she stepped in.

"I've been waiting," the long haired guy turned to her. His silky hair gave his name away.

"How is he?" Lal went over to the bed to examine the sick person.

"His temperature has been going up and he doesn't stop moving," Squalo answered. He stood next to Xanxus on his guard like he knew something.

She ignored it and looked back at the bed.

"Ah..." the kid groaned as he twisted under the covers.

The blankets were all over his face as if someone wrapped it up. _Why...? _She looked up at Squalo oddly but he didn't answer. She reached for the boy's arm under the covers and he moved it away flipping his whole body over. _He really doesn't stay still! _She grabbed his shoulder and flipped him back up again. This time a towel was covering his face.

"What's his name?" she asked as she peeled the cloth away.

She stopped her hand as she recognized the fluffy brown hair. _Is it?..._ She ripped the towel off his face.

"His name is Sawada. Sawada Tsunayoshi,"

Her eyes grew big. _Reborn!_

…...

"You betted that we'd get out of here before they could catch us?!"

Mukuro dragged him along as Fran frantically jabbed at the man's face with his foot until he let go.

"Just keep running! This way!" Reborn called out and they made a sharp turn.

Up ahead, they could see the entrance doors.

"I never thought I'd see _that_ again," Mukuro smirked under his breath.

This time, their teacher took out his gun and shot the door open. BANG! BANG! BANG! The doors flew open and they all took the leap of faith, barely jumping out of the cursed building.

"Reborn!" Jagger called out as the doors slammed at his face.

The Italian landed perfectly on his feet holding his fedora down as the two students tumbled to the ground. Reborn watched them roll to a stop.

"Hah...hah…" they were still panting.

Fran slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off.

"You really did miss me," Mukuro smirked picking himself up.

"I think I get enough of you at night," he looked up at him, "Oh, sempai! Did your hair get pointier?"

"What?" Mukuro's hair perked up.

"I guess they provide good conditioner there in the Detention Hall,"

A forced evil smile grew on his face again.

"Fran," their teacher pulled him away from the reunion. He filled his end of the deal.

"Hm?" he turned. Reborn was patiently waiting for him to spill about what he promised. "Oh, about Xanxus,"

….

_He's still not calming down…_ Lal Mirch took her hand away from his forehead.

"I think we have to take him to the hospital. I don't have anything here that'll help him,"

"Is he going to be okay?" Lussuria put his hand to his mouth.

"He'll be fine," she assured them.

"Can't you just give him something?" Squalo frowned.

"He's too dehydrated; we need to give him an IV drip,"

"Tch," Squalo turned to Luss, "Get the car!"

The other student nodded and went out of the room. She heard his footsteps go down the stairs as she leaned forward to reexamine Tsuna. _What is that?_ There was a purple bruise forming at the side of his mouth. She titled his head and saw that his mouth was watering. _That's not right._ Her eyebrows deepened.

"Hmn…" the boy groaned.

"Sawada," she called out. "He's waking up,"

"Hmn!…" he groaned louder.

…..

"Well, he's the only one he doesn't call 'trash,'"

Reborn had an odd look on his face.

"But he's known Xanxus even before he came to Namimori. I guess you could say they were childhood friends. They used to live together too but Tsuna moved out around the time the Varia formed and Xanxus got kicked to the Arcobaleno Program. I think they were together more when they first came here, but when I transferred here from Kokuyo they were already spending time with different people. Other than that, I'm not sure how deep their relationship actually is, but I never asked."

This was just really complicated.

"Back in our second year, Tsuna was the main target of bullies because he was really popular with his looks. I guess he was really cute? I didn't really have an opinion. But the first day I came here, Xanxus was already beating up a bunch of kids that stole Tsuna's food. He was already an angry kid then too. Even now, there are a lot of people that still comes after him and attacks him from the back because they like him. Tsuna is like a deer during hunting season that walks in an open field. And for this school, all four seasons are hunting seasons. Right, sempai?"

"Huh?" Mukuro turned to him.

"Didn't you used to pick on Tsuna too because you liked him?"

Reborn's eyes switched to Mukuro and an ominous growl, only that Mukuro seemed to hear, rumbled close to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Don't lie, sempai!"

Mukuro kept his lips sealed and shook his head.

"Just continue with your story!" he squished Fran's head.

"Ah!" the green haired kid somehow managed to slip away and fixed his hair again. "Anyways, that's why Xanxus comes over a lot to the other side of the school to watch over him." Fran continued, "He's not as bad as you think, he actually makes sure that Tsuna's in school and is there on time. He takes care of him. Last year, we had to sneak to class because we woke up late and he was there waiting outside the window to yell at Tsuna (and to beat me but I ran away). He actually blamed me that one time."

Reborn let it all sink in. _So it's fine to leave it like that? Those two are just close? _The wayXanxus dragged Tsuna's arm came to mind.

"Does he hit him?" he clenched his fist in his pocket.

"Hm?" the kid looked up surprised, "no, he actually tries to be gentle! Especially when Tsuna gets sick, he stays by his side through the night until he gets better." His face suddenly brightened, "But Tsuna does this thing whenever he gets sick that I'm not sure Xanxus actually notices. He gets better after he does it-"

BUUUZZZZZ. Reborn's phone vibrated cutting the kid off. He put up his hand to excuse himself.

"Yes?" he took out his phone.

"What about _my_ phone?..." Fran silently put out there. Mukuro stifled a laugh.

…

"Reborn!" Lal yelled over to the phone, "come to the Namimori Hospital!"

"What?" a confused voice came from the speaker. She turned her back away from the bed to not disturb Tsuna.

"The brunette, he's sick," she explained. "We're taking him to the hospital."

"What? What do you mean? Where are you right now?" a more serious voice took over.

"The South Building; the Varia called me over," there was silence on the other side, "I think I know what's going on but I want to confirm with you. It has to do with last night." She lowered eyes. "And I thought you'd like to know what's happening to him."

"I don't think that's necessary,"

….

The nurse kept talking on the phone. Lussuria still didn't have the care ready. It was just going too slow!

_Damn…_ Squalo shifted from his stance as he looked at the brunette tossing in his bed. _He's going to do it! _He remembered the signs. After all those times, he noticed it. The more he tossed from his bed, the closer they were getting to it happening.

"Ah…." The boy finally opened his eyes. They were groggy and tired but they immediately shifted to the side finding Xanxus nodding off on the chair.

_No..._ Adrenaline started pumping in his veins. Tsuna suddenly jerked and jumped forward.

"STOP!" Squalo threw himself at him.

….

The connection cut right after he heard the scream. _What's happening?! _His phone just kept flashing saying the call ended. He shoved it back in his pocket. _So Tsuna was at the South Building with the Varia. That means he was still with Xanxus._

"What does he do," he turned back to the green haired kid, "what does he do when he's sick?"

"Hm?" the kid stared back at him.

…..

Xanxus' eyes shot open. _Who the fuck was screaming?!_ Silver hair pushed at his face and he shoved it aside.

"Ah…" Squalo awkwardly opened his mouth trying to think of something.

Xanxus paused trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Tsuna had his arms wrapped around his roommate's shoulders with his face against Squalo's cheek. His eyebrow twitched.

"Piece of shit!" he threw back his chair.

….

"He kisses him," Fran pointed to his lips.


	6. That's Cheating!

Tsuna opened his mouth wider and tilted his head as the silver haired teen held awkwardly still not knowing what to do.

"The fuck are you doing?!"

Xanxus sprang from his seat and ripped them apart throwing Tsuna back on the bed and Squalo out the door.

"HEY!" Lal screamed. Damn their teenage hormones!

"Bossu~~! The car's ready!" Lussuria rushed through the door. "Agh-!" Squalo backed into him.

"The hell?!" Squalo screamed back.

"I said stop!" the nurse opened her bag and busted out a shotgun. All of them stopped and looked at her. "We need to go! Now! We can't waste time like this or he's just going to get worse!"

Xanxus barred his teeth but just looked at the brunette back asleep on the bed.

…

* * *

"I'm taking the fucking car," he growled as he took the keys from Lussuria.

He already had the brunette in his arms as he headed out the room.

"Let's go," he called out impatiently to the nurse. Not used to taking orders from a kid, she gave him a look but followed. Squalo chased after them.

"Are you going too?" Luss called after him.

"What else?" he turned back, "Damn guy is probably going to get caught for speeding again!"

Lussuria didn't go after them but instead hurried to the balcony.

"Hmn~," a worried look plastered on his face as he looked down below seeing the four of them getting into the car. _If only if Xanxus wasn't so overly attached. _

….

* * *

"Sensei?" Fran called out.

A sudden chill froze the man in the suit.

"Looks like a blow below the belt to me," Mukuro smirked.

…...

* * *

Reborn snapped out of it and quickly turned around.

_Kiss? He's been kissing Xanxus?! How does that even help him get better from a fever?!_

Reborn hurried to the parking lot.

"Sensei!" Fran trailed from behind. "Sensei!"

"Go back," he turned to them as he opened the car door to his black sports car. "I already gave you Mukuro."

"But you were talking about Tsuna on the phone!" the boy insisted.

"And something about going to the hospital," the older boy chimed in.

"Go back,"

"I-"

"He's still his roommate," Mukuro cut him off. He gave Reborn an adamant look as they stared at each other.

"Alright," he nodded in approval. Guess Mukuro wasn't all that bad. "Get in," but that didn't mean he wasn't going to regret this.

…..

* * *

"AAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

No time to regret this now. Fran slammed into Mukuro as they veered into a corner.

"Is this safe?!" Mukuro held onto his underclassman with his right arm and to the seat with his left.

"We need to get there quickly," the man turned the wheel again. "There's no time to be safe."

"Not even for our lives?!" Mukuro held even tighter to his kouhai. Fran looked up at him as he felt his hand sink deeper to his waist.

"Too close, sempai. You're hair's poking me," he pushed Mukuro's face away.

…

* * *

Screeeecchhh! The images outside the window spun around them.

"Watch out!" Lal screamed as another car rushed past by.

She hadn't had this rush in a while. Sure they were speeding on the wrong lane and it was late at night, but that's what made it perfect.

"Are you okay back there?" she twisted to the backseat.

"Get strapped in!" Squalo yelled as he tried reaching for the seatbelt to strap Tsuna in. He barely got in the car before Xanxus stomped on the gas pedal back at the dorms. He wasn't even strapped in himself! "Tch."

Xanxus looked to the mirror at the back and saw Squalo hugging the brunette tightly to keep him from falling. He made a low growl and sharply jerked the wheel. _That's too close, you damn shark!_

"Arghhh- Hey!" Squalo slammed against Tsuna even tighter. "Watch where you're going!"

Xanxus jerked the wheel again and his roommate finally fell off the seat letting go of the brunette.

"Damn it! What the hell are you trying to do?!" Squalo called from below.

Xanxus eased on the pedals until Tsuna rolled from the seat and back on top of his roommate.

"Get off me!" Squalo called out irritated as he tried to push the brunette off.

A vein popped out from Xanxus' temple as he stomped on the gas pedal again.

…

* * *

"Sirens!"

Fran and Mukuro peeked out the windows. There were police cars up ahead chasing a sleek dark silver Masarati creating a huge blockade.

"Surprised that isn't us," the two sighed in relief, "someone's actually crazier than us." (Well, than their teacher)

"We need to pass this," Reborn suddenly turned the wheel irritated.

"What? We can't do that! They're police cars!"

"Wait," Fran leaned forward to the front seat, "sensei- Ah!"

Reborn stomped on the gas pedal and the kid flew back to his seat.

….

* * *

"Yes, sir, a man driving a silver Masarati is speeding across the 5 Highway,"

"Do you see a license plate?"

"Y-yes. I think it's- Aaaaaghhh!" A huge crash and static ran over the speakers.

"What happened?!"

"A-another car is speeding! It just bumped into me! I think it's a black sports car! A Lamborghini?!"

"What?! Have rich people gone crazy?!"

…

* * *

"The cops are chasing us," Lal stated; critical eyes scanned the scene behind them.

_2,3..5. _Xanxus glared at the mirror counting. So there were 8 cars now.

"I'll deal with it," the nurse took out her shotgun again.

She rolled down the window and started firing. BAM! BAM! BAM! A huge bullet crashed onto the hood of the front police car. _Bull's eye,_ a smirk ran through her face. She slinked back into the car as the police car exploded and flew back into the other cars behind. Well, that takes care of them.

Squalo stared at the nurse with a sweat mark on his face as she sat back down. _Crazy woman! _ These teachers definitely follow a different law!

She kept her eyes on the side view mirror. As the smoke cleared, Lal saw something black speeding towards them. _They're still coming?!_ She got ready to aim but relaxed as she recognized the black car that came out of the smoke.

"Reborn?!" she let down her gun.

A man in a fedora with curly sideburns met her eyes as the car reached up to them.

….

* * *

"Please!" one of the nurses clung on to his arm, "We need you Dr. Shamal! Both Dr. Hadler and Dr. Hahn are not here! We need you to help with the patients!"

"I told you, I can't treat them if they're not female," he sighed. "Unless you're checking yourself in, Ms. Falker."

A sleazy smile came on to his face and the woman slapped him.

"Ugh!" she stomped away. "Disgusting!"

He held the red spot on his face, "Owww…." He watched her figure stomp away and a smile reappeared on his face. "Feisty,"

He bit his gums and chased after her. "Anna~!" he called after her, "I was joking around! A pretty lady like you!"

"Shove it," she glared at him.

He followed her into a room. "Don't be mad," he grabbed her hand.

"You don't want me to be mad?" she gave a soft smile, "Then take care of these," she shoved a stack of patient's files at his chest and stomped away.

"What?" he looked at his hands. "You don't really mean,…. Anna!" The woman glared at him and continued walking away. "Never mind,"

"Ugh~" he groaned.

Patients kept getting pulled in and out as a wheelchair passed him. What a stubborn woman trying hard to get! He scratched his head at the stack before him and looked around. _Fine._ But as soon as he encounters a guy, he's out of there! He headed to the nearest bed.

"So who do we have here~?" he put on a smile as he slid the curtain. He opened his eyes, paused, and closed it back again. "I'm sorry, my shift just ended a second ago."

"Shamal!" someone grabbed his shoulder.

"I'm sorry but there's just too much of the 'yes chest hair' vs. 'no chest hair' ratio!"

"We need your help!"

"Hm?" he turned to the person who touched him and saw a slender young woman with long, dark blue hair. "Lal?" he finally recognized her, "what are you doing here?"

Great. One of the few women he learned not to hit on.

"One of our students caught a bad fever,"

Shamal turned to a kid lying on the bed behind the curtains. He had an I.V. attached to his arm and had a pained look on his face. He looked back to Lal.

"Sorry, but I don't treat men. I'm pretty sure you can call one of the other doctors on call,"

"He's just a kid! And he's already here,"

Shamal sighed and slowly walked away, "Sorry,"

He kept going and suddenly bumped into someone. "Excuse..." his voice faded as he looked up and saw an annoyed, tall man in an Italian suit. His eyes, shadowed by his fedora, released a menacing aura. "Ah!" he turned away. It was like they bore into his soul.

"How's he doing?" the man side stepped to the woman behind him. Shamal's heart almost skipped a beat. So these were the type of men that taught it Namimori's Arcobaleno sect?

Shamal studied the trail of people that followed the man in the suit. A group of eyes suddenly turned to him along with an ominous atmosphere. A spiky haired delinquent with scowling red eyes, an equally unhappy looking rebel with silver long hair, a shady pineapple, and a weird froggy kid. Students? He turned back to the adults. With this ominous atmosphere, through his experience, a man in a suit was never good! Business man? Salary man? Mafia?! Haha. No. He wasn't going back there again.

"We just got him admitted," Lal answered. "The doctor's just examining him," she turned to him.

"Huh?" he perked up.

"What's wrong with him?" the man in the suit asked.

"Well, I haven't-"

"I've examined him myself back at the dorms, and I think it has to do with _la pelle dorata," _Lal interrupted.

"La pelle...?" Shamal suddenly got hooked.

Lal looked at him triumphant. She got him.

Shamal's mind suddenly set in "doctor" mode. Such a rare case! He hurried to the boy's side and an odd purple bruise caught his eye as he took a closer look. _It's turning gold._ He lifted the boy's face higher.

"Reborn," Lal turned to the man in the sideburns, "did anything happen last night?"

"No. His wound reopened but that's it."

Shamal opened the boy's mouth and tilted it to the side. It wasn't an infection.

"Did he take one of your pills that you guys carry around?"

"Yeah," the man answered, "what about it?"

"It contains an ingredient called 'yureo,'" he showed the boy's mouth to everyone and his tongue literally shined gold. "It literally means 'golden.' It's used to reduce the liquid coming out of your body to prevent swelling and induce clotting. Since it's a pill taken orally, it leaves the residue of yureo on the tongue first, and works on the tongue the fastest (especially when you're bleeding inside your mouth). I think your kid processes it too well that it's dried him up." Shamal held his hand close to the brunette's forehead. "When being processed, yureo turns the surrounding tissues golden. That's why the condition your kid has, 'la pelle dorata,' means 'golden skin.'" Shamal suddenly snapped to his senses and noticed that he was touching a guy and wiped his hand on his coat. _Eeeww..._ "When did he take it?"

"Last night,"

"Then most of it should have circulated through by now," he tossed the boy's head back on the pillow. "But the traces on his tongue will be hard to get rid of since it dried off his mouth."

"Then, are you just going to make him drink water?" one of the boys asked.

"No, well we can, but it'd be better if we used something stronger."

"Like what?" Lal asked.

"I don't know, I guess a kiss?"

"A kiss?!" all of them went at once.

"Yeah," he nodded like they doubted him. "A kiss is waay better than water. A French would be good. "

They all suddenly grew silent and diverted their eyes.

"Ah," Shamal suddenly realized. "I was joking! I was joking! Hahaha!" he tried to cover it up. _Ah…. Tough crowd._

"Shouldn't you do it then?" the man in the Italian suit turned to the spiky haired guy with feathers in his hair.

"What?" the boy turned to him.

"Kiss him. You've-"

"Aaarrrrgghhhh!" the boy swung at him. "You're sick!"

The man easily dodged and stepped back.

….

* * *

Did he say something? Didn't the two already kiss each other?!

"Woah, don't fight in here!" Shamal yelled.

"Haven't you already?" Reborn continued.

"I've never once kissed him like that!"

Reborn quietly eyed the boys in the corner and they all turned their heads. _Don't mention this now..._ They all thought in unison.

"'Like that?'" he quoted him.

Xanxus wailed on him. Reborn grabbed his wrists but the hot headed kid only tried to knee him in the gut. Reborn pushed him away and threw him to the side but Xanxus immediately jumped back up.

"Stop it!" Lal called out.

"Hey!" the silver haired teen tackled Xanxus. "Calm yourself down!"

"Move!" he tried to push him off. Xanxus squirmed under his friend's hold when he heard a ringing in his ears. His arms suddenly felt weak and he followed the sound to the man in the white coat. _The hell?_ His red eyes glared at him as his vision became distorted. _What shit was he pulling?!_ He took a step forward but his knees fell.

"Xanxus?" Squalo shook the boy in his arms. "Oi!"

"Don't worry," the doctor waved his hand and pulled out something from his pocket, "I only sent him to sleep."

Squalo looked at him uncertainly.

"You still have that ringing device?" Lal turned to him.

"Yup. It's a nice pen I got from the Amazon. And it only works on wildcats," he turned to the silver haired boy and tossed it to him, "you can have it." _Only God knows how much you need it if you need to deal with that everyday._

The room suddenly became quiet as everyone calmed down and Shamal scratched his head from the awkwardness.

"So... I'm guessing we're sticking to the I.V?" he nodded to everyone in the room. "You can come back for him in a week, and he should be fine," he turned to Lal before he started to walk off.

…...

* * *

As he reached the hallway, a voice called out to him.

"Wait!" He turned around and saw the green haired kid. He ran up to him and leaned a little close. "You don't happen to have one for pineapples do you?"

"Huh?" his face turned to confusion as the boy clicked the air with his thumb.

"Fran!" another person came out of the room into the hallway.

_Oh..._ Shamal stared at the boy with the pointy hair who came closer.

"You suddenly disappeared."

"I was just talking to the doctor," the boy answered.

The taller kid looked up at the older man before he wrapped his arms around his friend's shoulders.

"Let's go back,"

The shorter kid gave a small nod but snuck a small look back at him; his eyes still hoping for a pen.

"Hmn..." Shamal narrowed his eyes as he watched them walk away. _Pineapples, huh?_

…...

* * *

Lal sat beside Tsuna as he lay asleep. So she was right about the yureo but... Her eyes flicked to Reborn who stood stiffly against the wall looking out the window. His previous words stuck to her.

"_Shouldn't you do it then?" _

A kiss... A kiss! He wasted his chance to kiss him! For sure, Xanxus' bewildered face got everyone off guard! What did Reborn mean when he said that anyways? She tore her eyes away back to Tsuna before she got caught staring. Did that mean... Xanxus and Tsuna were together? She stole a quick look at the sleeping kids on the chair in the corner and saw Fran's head resting softly against Mukuro's shoulder. They didn't seemed surprised but rather antsy when it happened. Like Reborn spoke words of taboo. Were they hiding something? But then-

Soft footsteps came through the door and she turned around.

…...

* * *

His eyes were still groggy but he managed to make it to the receptionist's desk. How long was he sleeping for?! Xanxus stumbled to the counter knocking down a mug and the woman looked up.

"Are you okay, dear?"

"Room..." he muttered, "Sawada Tsunayoshi...What room?"

"You should lay back down," the woman stood up worried.

"Room!" he glared up at her.

"Eeee!" the woman froze.

…...

* * *

"I'm taking the little brats back," Squalo stood at the door with his keys.

"Are you sure?" Lal asked him. "What about Xanxus?"

"Dumbass is staying,"

As soon as he said that, the very person walked in through the door. The delinquent's eyes narrowed like he was disturbed from a good nap. Xanxus pushed a small woman aside as she stumbled away and walked heavily into the room. Reborn ripped his eyes away from the window and followed Xanxus as he slumped into the chair on the other side of Tsuna and fell back asleep. Lal stared at him unknowingly.

"Oi, I'm leaving!" Squalo announced as he threw Mukuro and Fran over his shoulders. Xanxus didn't lift an eyelid.

"I'm leaving too, then," Lal stood up. "I already called Collonelo."

Squalo walked out the door and she followed him.

"Reborn," she called out as she got to the door. There was a moment of mutual communication.

"I'll be fine," he tilted his fedora.

…...

* * *

Reborn stood still as he returned to the window, even after he saw the silver Masarati go. Even after he saw Lal on Collonelo's bike go. He let out a sigh and finally walked over to sit on the chair Lal was sitting on, but realized it was a mistake. Once he cast a glance at the boy on the bed, he suddenly couldn't help but look at Tsuna, and his eyebrows scrunched all by their selves.

_So, he's kissed Xanxus? _

Irritation started to bubble up again.

_How many times? After how many years?_

Wheels rolled in the hallway as a person pushing a cart passed by.

_He lets him drag him anywhere he wants to go. Yells at him. Kisses him. But he refuses to kiss him back. _

Reborn couldn't help it. He took a sharp peek under his fedora at the sleeping Xanxus. If he wasn't going to do him the favour then-

He grabbed Tsuna's face and went at his lips. His hands moved on their own. His lips moved on their own. He took a short breath and looked at Xanxus again. The boy nodded off to the side and snapped his head back up. His breathing continued calmed as he stayed asleep. An evil smirk formed all by itself too as Reborn continued to press the pen in his coat pocket. _It only works on wildcats.._

He turned his eyes back to Tsuna as he continued to taste the golden flavour of yureo.

…...

* * *

Thack!

"Giotto!" Asari called out. "What's wrong?"

The man leaned against the wall and clutched his chest. Asari went and picked up the fallen book.

"Tsuna,..." Giotto whispered. "Something is happening to my little brother," he turned with his eyes wide with terror.

"Giotto!" the library door suddenly burst open. G walked in frantic.

"G!" Giotto called out. His legs suddenly gave out and the red (pink) haired man caught him before he hit the ground. "My Tuna senses are tingling," he clutched onto his friend's shirt.

"Ah!" G's face caught in worry.

"What's going on?" a blond walked in the study. He ignored the two on the side and looked to the Japanese.

"I don't know," Asari sighed. "I really don't..."

…...

* * *

**Preview of next Chapter~**

Squalo felt around his shirt and patted his chest. Where was it?! He continued down and shoved his hands in his back pockets.

"Why are you touching yourself?" Bel looked at him when a sudden grin sprouted on his face. "Shi shi shi. You really can't control yourself when Xanxus threw out all your magazines huh?"

"Shut up! I'm just looking for my pen!"Squalo yelled. "I think I lost it. Damn! Where the hell is it?!"

"Shi shi shi," the blond continued to laugh as he flipped through the pages of his magazine. He could lie all he wanted.

"You guys!" heavy stomps came up the staircase. "You guys!" Luss popped up from the door. "Have you heard? He's coming!"

"Huh?" the two stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"He's coming here to Namimori!"

"WHO?!"

"Him!" Luss pointed at the cover of Bel's magazine.

Bel flipped the cover over and threw the magazine on the floor.

"Stupid. Why would Giotto Vongola come to Namimori?"


	7. The Past

**Yay guys! Finally able spit this chapter out and stuff. Haha. Sorry it took long but at least it's very long. Enjoy and comment!**

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(*_*)

* * *

_He's coming! He's coming! _He waited at the back patio with his legs folded, but the rest of his body was jumping up and down. _After all this time, he's coming back! _His head jerked as the awaited sound of the door opening clacked.

"Nii-san!" he ran to the door.

A young man walked in with a surprised look on his face as Tsuna jumped on him.

"Haha, Tsuna! I'm back," Giotto chuckled as he patted his head.

Tsuna always remembered his older brother's soft expressions. He smiled at him and saw that Giotto had matured a bit while he was gone.

"I saw you on t.v. the other day! And you really are blond now!" Tsuna brushed his small hands through Giotto's hair.

His brother gave a small laugh. "Yup, does it suit me?" he let Tsuna twirl small strands around his hand before letting him get back down to the floor.

"You look exactly like an actor!"

Giotto laughed and shut the door behind him. As he walked in to the living room, he carried only a light brown messenger bag. "Where's Mom and Dad?" Giotto looked around.

"They're not home yet," Tsuna answered.

"Oh," a slight disappointment rang in his voice.

"But they'll be home soon! They knew you were coming today!"

A small shine returned back to Giotto's face. "Well, while their gone, do you want to go and get something to eat? I'll treat you,"

"Ah!" Tsuna's face brightened. "Let's go!" He grabbed his brother's hand and led him out the door.

Today was supposed to be the day the whole family celebrated his brother coming back. He remembered they had a good time at the restaurant and he remembered them two having a good time walking back but at certain times, Giotto was quiet. His mind wandered off now and then, but they were happy. Weren't they?

…...

* * *

When they got home, their parents were waiting in the living room. They barely walked in the house when they heard sobbing.

"Mom, Dad," Giotto let out as he saw them. Their mom was crying.

"Mom!" Tsuna squeezed past Giotto and ran to the woman on the sofa. "Look! Nii-chan is back!"

He pulled on her arm and she slowly showed her swollen face.

"Why are you crying?" he asked her. "Don't cry anymore, Nii-chan is back!"

"Yes, yes he is," she forced a smile as she stroked his head.

Tsuna looked at her with a pout. He could tell something was wrong but he was still just a kid.

"Let's go upstairs," she wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up.

"Why? I want to stay with onii-chan,"

"Yes," she turned to Giotto as if finally noticing him. Her face scrunched with worry that she tried to hide. "But we have to give you a bath first. You came home so late with onii-chan! Then we can go play, okay? You're father and Giotto-nii can talk while you get ready,"

Tsuna gave a compliant nod. Their mother gave a sad smile with a meek look to her older son as she went up the stairs.

Giotto's heart sunk as she passed by. He knew what that look meant. He waited for his mom's footsteps to disappear before he quietly closed the door, and walked to the center of the living room where his father sat. His eyes remained downcast as he stood there waiting. A few minutes passed as his dad remained reading the newspaper without batting an eye; Giotto bit his lip as he started feeling stupid just standing there and dared to look at up.

"Dad,"

The man sharply flicked the newspaper cutting him off.

"So, Italy's idol finally came home, huh? Finally made the time to come home and talk to us. Are we good enough for you now?"

Giotto's face tightened. "I'm not Italy's idol,"

"Is that so?!" his dad slammed the papers on the coffee table. The boy's muscles tensed from the sudden loudness.

"Look at you," he gestured in disgust, "Just the way you dress! You actually came into my house dressed like that?!" His dad looked him up and down at his son's tailored suit unbuttoned low. "You look like a gigolo!"

"I'm not a gigolo,"

"Oh really?!" his dad barked. "All you need to do is strut around in the streets and you'll fit right in!"

"Dad,"

"DAD," his father chuckled at the word, "And what in the world did you do to your hair?! Just because you're working with those people, you think you can do that?!" The man grabbed Giotto's hair and pulled it side to side. "Blond! What are you trying to be?!" he tossed his head to the side but Giotto kept his mouth shut. His dad gave him another look over and sneered a look of disappointment.

…...

* * *

"Mom, why are you crying?" Tsuna looked up at her.

Tears ran down her face as she broke down before they even got to the bathroom. She leaned against the wall but ended up slowly sliding down to slump in a corner.

"Mom,"

She covered her face with her arms but he gently peeled them off. He could see that there were marks just below her eye and there were bruises on her arms. She was basically swollen all over.

"Don't cry," he hugged her as she continued to wail. "Please," tears suddenly started to flow from his own eyes.

"Giotto," she slipped out in sobs. "Giotto..."

They started to cry in unison until he heard a loud smack and his mom started to cry even louder. Tsuna let go and crawled over to the staircase so he could see below, but he could only make out a few books thrown into the hallway. He tried to see his brother's face but Giotto kept it glued to the floor.

"You think you can disrespect me by doing those things?! By selling yourself to the public with those foreigners?! Don't think I won't know! Everyone saw you! Even your brother! That shameful thing you signed up for! You let everyone watch what you do by broadcasting it on the television!"

"It's called acting, Dad. And those foreigners are famous movie producers-"

SMACK!

"How many times are you going to talk back to me?!"

Tsuna's eyes widened as he saw a hand grab onto Giotto's shirt and throw him to the table. A loud crash of breaking glass pierced through his ears.

"Nii-chan!" Tsuna ran downstairs.

He hurried to the living room and saw his father beating his brother as he held him down against the broken shards of glass of the coffee table.

"You run away and dare show your shameful face back to me like this?!"

The man's fist became painted with a deeper red each time he continued slamming hist fists against the boy's face.

"Stop it!" Tsuna tried to push his father off but he got only tossed aside.

He slammed against the sofa and tripped on the broken glass.

"Stop!" his mother finally ran down the stairs and tried to pull their father off Giotto. "Stop hitting him!"

The man stopped moving his fists and turned his attention to their mother and slapped her. It took a moment for their father to calm down as they listened to his jagged breathing. His eyes were still bloodshot from the burst of anger and violence. He looked around him at his unmoving eldest son laying against the broken frame of the coffee table, his wailing younger son also bleeding from the scattered glass, and turned to his wife on the floor silently crying. In his native tongue, he screamed at her, and continued to threaten her. Slapped her some more and when he was done, grabbed his coat and stormed out of the house.

The woman let the tears fall down her face and onto her lap until she regained herself. Tsuna's cries finally reached her and she reached over stroking his head.

"Hush," she whispered. "It's okay,"

She held him and kissed him on the forehead, then let him go. Her eyes went to her other son who still hasn't moved. Was he dead? It looked like he was beaten out of consciousness, but thick tears ran down his cheeks and onto his bloody ears.

"Giotto," she whispered.

She carefully lifted him from the mess of glass and onto her lap on the floor.

"Giotto," she repeated and her voice began to waiver every time she repeated his name. "Giotto..."

Her son's body began to shake in her arms as a faster, heavier flow of tears streamed from his face and onto her dress.

"I...I don't..." his cries became more audible now. He tried to get the right words but sobs kept breaking and taking each breath he wanted to use to speak.

"It's okay," she whispered and stroke his head as well.

"No!" he sobbed and buried his face deeper into his mother's chest.

She turned to her younger son and beckoned him to come to her as well. Tsuna waddled over and looked at his brother. His nose was messed up, cuts licked his face, an open cut bled from his bottom lip, and blood mixed in with his tears. .

"H-he hits you..." Giotto continued but their mother only continued to stroke his head.

"You don't need to, Giotto. You're only thirteen right now. Don't force yourself."

Giotto sniffled as he looked up at his mother, then to his younger brother. They should have seen how they looked. They were all bleeding and crying, but he was the worst. No, his mother was the worst. It looked like she was going to die from pain and sorrow and guilt.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm going to continue making money," his Italian accent started to show. No matter how much French, English, or German movies he was going to film, he was still Italian. He reached over and pulled Tsuna closer to him. "I'm going to make money. A lot of money. And I'm going to be famous. Then I'll take you and Tsuna with me to England. To America if you want, and we can be gone. Far, far away from here and you can smile."

Giotto played with Tsuna's cheeks and he stopped crying.

"America?" his mother gave a small laugh, "That's so far away,"

"I'll become famous and it'll be easy," he continued to play with his little brother. "I'll make so much movies that everyone will know me,"

His mother started to smile but heavier drops of tears started to fall from her face and onto Giotto's cheeks.

"Silly," she shook her head. "You're a silly, silly child!"

Giotto's stared at her with black dark eyes as she continued to sob.

"No," he stated plainly. "We're not living here anymore. I'm taking Tsuna with me,"

The woman gave him a confused desperate look.

"I came here to tell you that I'm leaving to Belgium tomorrow, for filming, and I won't be coming back."

"Belgium?"

Her son nodded. "I'm not letting Tsuna stay here. Mom," he smiled at her, "while I've been filming, I've seen many things. A lot of great things. And Tsuna should see the same. He should go see the world and see how great it is. He can't be stuck here with him. With _him_," Giotto unconsciously squeezed his brother's cheeks tighter, " It's a hard world out there, but it's a lot more gentle than this,"

They both looked at Tsuna and he stared back at them.

"Come with me too," he looked at her. His eyes practically begging.

"No," she shook her head. "Someone has to keep your father here," She wiped away her tears but she didn't look any stronger. Her face was sullen and pain was screaming at every angle you look at her. "Run away, Giotto. Run away, take your brother with you, and don't you ever let me see you here again,"

…...

* * *

"That's my hand, Giotto. Giotto."

"Huh?" he snapped back to reality. A bright flash blinded his eyes and he turned around.

"That's my hand. You've been holding my hand to feed you lunch," Alaude glared at him. His steel cold blue eyes pierced at him as a vein popped at the side of his head. "How long are you going to hold it?" His eyes suddenly got darker.

"Oh, sorry," he let go. That was embarrassing! How could he just space out like that?!

"Don't be," a green haired kid fiddled with his camera from across the table. "This picture of you two can sell for a lot, fratello," (brother)

"Huh?"

Lampo showed them a picture of Giotto looking away while making Alaude feed him.

"I should show this to Haru-,"

THACK! Alaude threw his spoon to the kids face.

"No," the blond glared at him too. "You show it to anyone and I'll destroy your camera,"

A dark aura suddenly filled the room as Lampo smiled jokingly.

"Fu fu fu, are you that nervous?" a voice chimed in.

Giotto turned and saw his friend leaning against the door frame. His midnight blue hair shone with the reflection coming through the airplane window.

"I was hoping it wouldn't show," Giotto sighed.

"Don't over think it and relax. You guys haven't seen each other after all," Daemon tilted his head. "Then again, if your nervous, you can always hold onto Alaude," he looked down to Giotto's hands.

"Hm?" Giotto picked up his hand and saw that he was holding Alaude's hand again. "I'm sorry!" he tried to wriggle away but the other hand held firm. He looked at the platinum blond confused.

"I'm eating," the guy looked at him flatly, "don't shake me,"

Even though it was a glare, there wasn't any hostility in his words. Giotto stared at him as he took a bite out of his own lunch then at at Lampo and Daemon. A small smile warmed up on his face as he leaned back in his chair.

"Thank you for coming with me to meet my little brother,"

…...

* * *

He liked it here on top of the physics building. It was peaceful and quiet, no one to disturb him, and there was a gentle breeze that blew the smoke away when he wanted to take one. He slouched forward as he clicked his lighter to light another cigarette.

"Hey! I knew you'd be here! How many times do I have to tell you to stop ditching class?! Oi!"

Gokudera turned back at the annoyingly familiar voice.

"Tch. Why do you keep following me?!" his face twisted at the sight of a certain pesky person.

"And how many times do I have to tell you not to smoke?! It's bad for you!"

The tall figure jumped from the building across and landed right next to him. Yoink! He ripped the cigarette right out of his mouth.

"Teme!" he growled standing up.

He was about to pounce the stupidly brazen punk when the man quickly side stepped and let him fall.

"Umf!" he fell on his hands.

The biker looked at him and scoffed like he was a loser.

"Go to class already," Skull threw the cigarette butt on the floor and stomped on it.

The silver haired delinquent frowned up at his teacher recollecting that on the first day, Gokudera had been quickly attracted to him by just his name, Skull – being that he had a fascination with skulls, it seemed pretty cool a teacher was named that – and the fact that he had piercings and tattoos on his face which set him apart from the rest of the teachers and made him look like a bad ass.

From afar, Skull actually looked like he would be the coolest teacher in campus. That is, if you didn't talk to him. A few seconds of mere conversation would send you ripping your hair out of how childish he was.

"Screw you," Gokudera spat at the arcobaleno.

…...

* * *

It irritated him to look at him. Gokudera was really smart – no, gifted at auto shop and mathematics, the two subjects he taught, but all this bratty delinquent did was ditch class!

"Don't tell me to screw myself!" he yelled, "You know, I can send you to detention for that!"

"Then try it!" the boy challenged. He took took something from his pockets and scrapped his hand against the floor. "Eat this!"

Skull's eyes followed the long rectangular things the boy threw in the air. His eyes grew in realization as it took a second to figure out what they were. Dynamites! He instinctively raised his arms to protect himself as the explosives rained down on him.

"Hehe," the silver haired delinquent smirked.

Smoke blew everywhere and he waited to see the burnt body of the childish biker. To his surprise, a strong standing figure started to appear as the all dirt started to clear away.

"Is that all you got?! That won't hurt me!" the arcobaleno threw his arms to the side like a power ranger, "Who do you think I am?!"

Skull smiled triumphantly as he saw the bratty punk standing with his mouth open. That's right! Don't underestimate him! He was chosen as a teacher in the arcobaleno district to handle the likes of of him (delinquents) after all!

"You call that fire power?! Your explosives are still weak! If you actually came to my class once in a while, you would've learned a new way to tweak the strength of the powder!"

His student cursed under his breath. "Shut up!" The boy's eyes shifted trying to think of what to do. His greenish gray eyes wandered until they finally focused on something behind him. "Look!" he pointed to the back of the arcobaleno, "your bike!"

"My bike?!" he jerked his head. What was happening to his baby?!

As soon as he turned his head, there was nothing there. He stared hard at the trees and old buildings confused. Wait... They were still inside the campus. He didn't even come in his bike!

"You liar!" he turned back but the silver haired boy was gone. "H-Hey! Where'd you go?!"

He heard leaves rustling and he looked down at the edge of the rooftop. Down below in the grass was the stubborn Italiano trying to run away.

"Gokudera!" he screamed.

He jumped down the four stories and landed heavily on the ground. His head snapped back up as he sprung forward into a sprint, hunting down his troublesome student.

…...

* * *

_Crap! Crap! Crap! _Dirty words were the only things his mind could spit out as he tried to outrun the purple beast trailing him. Why did Skull even care about him so much?! Who cares if he skipped class or not, he still learned on his own! He took the chance and glanced back behind him – a mistake.

"AAAGGGGGHHHHH!" he let out a scream as a blur pushed against his face and tackled him down on the ground. "Get off me!"

He tried to throw his arms out but his wrist were immediately caught. Something heavy sat on him, trapping him with his face against the ground. It almost seemed like he was flopping like a fish as a hand felt and fondled through his chest pocket.

"Here!" he could hear his childish teacher's voice.

He stopped struggling and tried to look up at what the punk rider was so happy about. A haughty smirk ran through the man's face as he dangled a small white box in front of him.

"Hey! Those are my cigarettes!"

"And your lighter too," the arcobaleno stuck out his tongue to show that he had his red lighter in his mouth.

"That's gross! Spit it out! And give me back my cigarettes you jerk!"

"You can get it back once you start coming back to my class!"

A vein popped at the side of his head as he saw his teacher bite the lighter. That was the special limited edition lighter he got from Italy!

"Don't bite it with your teeth!" Gokudera's face twisted in anger. He suddenly gained a sudden boost in strength as he flipped his teacher off of him. "Give me back my lighter!"

He pinned the biker down on the ground, his hands firmly wrapped around both the man's wrists as he trapped his teacher between his legs.

"My lighter," he gloomed.

"Eh?" Skull put on a confused face. How did his student get the upper hand just now?! "O-Oi! Let go!" he tried to squirm out of the boy's solid grip. "Gokudera!"

A dark aura emanated from from the delinquents eyes as he focused on the object in the man's mouth. The boy's face drew closer as Skull's eyes sunk into a spiral of confusion.

BANG! BANG!

A fast wind grazed the back of Gokudera's head and he immediately jumped away from Skull. He headed for the nearest tree and crouched behind it.

"What are you guys doing?" a deep voice seeped into the air.

He slowly peeked back in the direction of where the bullets came from and saw a man in a crisp black suit coming closer, gun in hand. Another teacher! The silver haired delinquent glared at the arcobaleno's sideburns as they bounced with every step he took.

_Two teachers,_ he grinded his teeth. There was no way he could handle that. Not with the weapons he had on anyway. Just explosives, and it couldn't even damage Skull! A sudden feeling pierced through his body as he felt an animalistic blood lust aimed at him.

"Ngh!" he clutched his chest as he bolted into a run without a second thought.

He just had to get his lighter later.

…...

* * *

Reborn let out a sigh as he watched the silver haired boy escape. How disappointing. He was just taking a walk to clear his mind and he finds Skull getting molested by one of his students. His eyes switched to the purple haired punk on the grass.

A confusion still filled his face as the other arcobaleno sat up, grass in his face.

"This is why you don't let students take advantage of you," he looked down at him.

Skull spat something red from his mouth on to his hand. "He wasn't over powering me! I had control of the situation!" he tried too hard to deny what just happened.

Reborn looked at him disbelieving.

"D-don't look at me like that!" the biker pouted.

No matter how much Skull had grown, he always looked like a kid to him. Irresponsible, gullible, and... Reborn didn't even want to think the word but he was naïve! His lackey was like an open target for people to take an advantage of! As bad as he didn't want to admit it, he was guilty of teasing the other arcobaleno too much. Only because Skull left himself open to be teased! Or maybe it was because of his own personal attraction to teasing naïve people?

The possibility of a student taking advantage of the childish biker ran through his mind. The silver haired student pinning down Skull just looked so wrong in his mind that he couldn't help but smack the other arcobaleno.

"Ow!" the younger teacher grabbed the spot he just hit.

"Don't let students take advantage of you!" he scolded. "Don't build that type of relationships with them!"

A pout pulled on Skull's face. "Relationships?! I don't build the types of relationships like you!"

His words struck a chord in him and he snapped his head at the brazen punker.

"Types of relationships?" Reborn loomed over him.

Sweat started to trickle down the other arcobaleno's face suddenly realizing he might've said something wrong.

"T-that's right!" the biker decided to stand his ground, "I see the way you look at Sawada!"

Ah... He meant Sawada. A dark look washed over Reborn's face as Skull waited for his reaction.

"Oh?" a smirk ran over the hitman's face. The way he tilted his head made him look like a mafioso. "And what about it?"

Even if Skull knew about his intentions – his dark intentions – about Sawada, what was he going to do?

"Y-you're serious?" the biker's chain piercing dangled against his face as his mouth dropped.

For some reason, he grew content with his lackey's surprised face. Reborn drew back his gun and hid it back to its holster in his jacket. His hand kept at the trigger as he confessed.

"He's mine," his eyes thinned to give off a warning.

Skull grew tense and glared like a little kid as he picked up a white cigarette box on the floor.

"Then I'll make sure you can't even come near him!" he went off and ran away leaving the suited arcobaleno by himself.

Was that even a threat? What did he mean by "not touch him?" Reborn quickly disregarded his comrade's outburst. He wasn't going to worry about it. No matter what he says, he was going to have Tsuna anyways. One way or another.

…...

* * *

There was a tingling to his lips. Mhn. Tsuna could feel the light shining on his eyes as he opened them. There was something heavy on his lap. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and he froze. That wasn't right. He rubbed his eyes again.

It was still there! Seriously! There was a huge cat sleeping on his lap right now! He twisted his head and found himself in a white hospital room. Hospital? Since when did he get here?!

As he looked around, his legs kept moving to jostle the beast sleeping on his legs.

"Ugh..." the delinquent started to move around.

Tsuna stayed still as he watched the muscular teen slowly raise himself up from leaning over him. Xanxus let out a deep groan as he opened his eyes, a pure red glistened as the delinquent turned his eyes at him.

The boy stretched out his hand towards his face and he flinched.

"Hmph," the older boy scoffed, "still afraid of me,"

He carefully reopened his eyes to see that the older boy had stopped and took his hand back. The delinquent murmured something under his breath as he got up.

"Wait!" Tsuna reached for the boy's hand, "Xanxus," he softly called his name.

The feathers in his hair swayed as he suddenly stopped.

"Xanxus," he called out again as he unconsciously pulled the older boy closer.

The whole time, the older teen kept his eyes wide trying to anticipate what he was doing. Their faces kept getting closer and closer until their lips were inches apart. The corner of the delinquent's mouth twitched when the brunette suddenly dived in and kissed him.

"Good morning," the boy smiled as he let Xanxus go.

The grip he had on the delinquent's hand loosened and his whole body relaxed.

"Tsuna!" Xanxus caught the boy's body.

Tsuna's body grew limp as he fell back into sleep. It was as if he was hugging him; the older boy looked over to see the patient's eyes closed.

"Fucking hell," he grunted under his breath. "Don't mess with me!"

His hand acted on its own and punched a hole in the wall. His chest heaved up and down as Xanxus looked at broken pieces of plaster falling around his hand.

…...

* * *

Was Tsuna still stealing kisses from Xanxus? Giotto tried to recollect how his little brother was. They first met in Scandinavia when they were filming for his second movie.

"_Giotto," the director called out, "these are going to be your co-stars in the new movie,"_

_The man moved aside to reveal a slim pink haired woman and an angry little kid beside her. _

"_Hello, nice to meet you," he held out his hand._

_The woman gave a smile and took his hand. _

"_Bianchi,"_

"_Giotto,"_

"_I've been looking forward to work with you after your first movie. I have to say, you looked really promising to work with, not to mention handsome," _

_A slight blush started to dust his cheeks. He hadn't really talked to these type of mature women before. _

"_Thank you," he tried to remain calm. "I hope we can work well together. And you too," he turned to the small kid._

_The dark haired boy glared at him and looked away._

"_Hmph," he rudely walked off leaving the incoming star dumbfounded. _

_The blond just stood there as he watched the hot headed kid stomp away._

"_That's Xanxus," the beautiful woman filled him in, "he doesn't really like being close to other people. He can be a little rough," she tried to apologize, "but it's because of how he grew up. He was picked up in the alleys of the bad part of Italy by the director when he needed help navigating through the neighborhood a few years back in another movie. Surprisingly, he's a good actor, although it's hard for him to follow directions,"_

"_The little kid?"_

"_He grew up there,"she folded her arms, her face expressing a little sadness. "It's good that the director decided to keep him and get him out of all the street violence,"_

_She stared off into space in the direction the boy went. The look in her eyes almost seemed like a big sister and Giotto couldn't help but see himself in that position. He had his little brother to take care of too. _

"_There's scars on his face, is that part of the movie?" he snapped her out of her daze. _

_An unsettled look drew on Bianchi's face as she heard him. _

"_Yes, and no," the actress tried to answer. She flipped her hair trying to find the right words. "The character he's playing is going to be burned in a building and they're going to add make up as the story goes, but the scars are real. As I remember, he already had those marks on him when he was first brought in by the director. He doesn't like people talking about it though,"_

_Her explanation got pretty heavy as Giotto let it sink in. So Xanxus must've lived a similar life to them, maybe even worse. Abused as a child, it must've been horrible to go through that alone. At least they had their mother to protect them when they were smaller but that stopped when their brute of a father started to hit her too._

"_Be nice to him," the woman's brows were folded in concern_

_A genuine smile appeared on Giotto's face. "I will,"_

…_..._

* * *

_Xanxus backed up deeper into the alley. _

"_So we finally found you, eh?" two suited men in shades followed him in the narrow space, "Come with us and you won't get hurt,"_

"_Like hell I'll follow you!" he growled._

_His eyes shifted from both men's faces as a bead of sweat fell down his cheek. These men – they were dangerous. He suddenly jerked as he stepped into a puddle letting out a startled scream as he fell back onto the dirty floor._

"_Get him!" one of the men shouted rushing towards him. _

_The boy scrambled on his knees and stumbled into a run. Blood trailed his steps as sharp rocks slashed his bare feet as he ran for his life._

"_Ah," he gasped halting to a stop. A dead end. A fence blocked the rest of the way trapping the only escape route he had. The footsteps suddenly rang louder as he looked back to see the men's shadows getting bigger. He had to climb this thing! His fingers slipped through the metal holes but before he could even lift a leg, two sets of hands pulled him down. "Get off me!" he yelled. _

_He struggled as he was pushed down onto the ground._

"_Stop it!" _

_Hands incessantly kept clawing at him until a breeze came by and pushed one of the men off. _

"_Stop hurting him!" a childish voice whined in the air. _

_Xanxus eyes opened in surprise as he sat himself up. What the hell? He gritted his teeth as he saw a small brown haired boy trying to pin one of the men down. Well, he was hugging the man tightly and crying. _

"_Stop!" the kid cried, snot running down his nose. The man kept still and took off his shades._

"_No! No! We're not hurting him!" his co-star tried to comfort the brunette. "It's okay! See?" he held up his hands. Smiling awkwardly, he twisted his head begging for help. _

_A growl rumbled up from the older boy's throat as he got up and grabbed the boy's arm. What? Was this the third time he did this?! Was he dumb?!_

"_Stupid! Get off!" Xanxus pulled the small boy away. _

_The child continued to cry not hearing him; his small hands clung to the other actor's jacket like they were attached, sewed on at the seems, but he managed to get him off by pulling even harder. _

"_Stop!" the young actor kept yelling. _

_He could feel the short sharp breaths as the brunette's ribs pushed against his hands. His tears slowly started to stop and turn into quiet sobs. _

"_Ngh!" the small boy slowly opened his eyes to look up at him. _

_Xanxus only gave him a look of disgust. Stop this already, you brat! His eyes squinted in annoyance when the boy suddenly threw his arms and hugged him. _

"_Get off!" he barked, a paralysis catching his body at the sudden affection. "Damn it!" _

"_Giotto!" he could hear the director yell for the guy responsible for all this mess. "Giotto!"_

"_Giotto, get over here!"_

"_I'm sorry!" _

_Rushed footsteps hurried towards him and peeled off the overly attached child. Relief filled him as he could feel the air again. _

"_I'm really sorry," the tall blond wrapped his arms around his little brother. "I wasn't watching him. I don't know how he got on set,"_

_Xanxus' brows furrowed as he glared at the brothers. The older one only looked irresponsible. Annoying. No matter what everyone said about the new coming actor, he didn't like him. Handsome? Charming? Please. Not charismatic at all. A permanent scowl set on his face._

"_Somebody please come and take the kid back in the building," an exasperated breath escaped the aged director. _

_A woman in a dress suit and glasses rushed over and tried to take the little boy away. _

"_Ngh!" a small cry jumped out of him as the woman touched him. _

"_Come on, Tsuna," Giotto tried to transfer him to the Scandinavian worker. _

_The boy shook his head and turned his head over to Xanxus. _

"_Huh?" _

"_Xanxus!" he cried his name. Everyone turned their eyes towards him confused. _

"_Shut up!" he yelled. _

_Why the hell did the kid want him?_

"_Xanxus!" the boy repeated his name. _

_The child actor was about to come over and hit the boy when a hand pulled him back._

"_Calm down," a dark haired figure firmly pressed against his shoulder. He looked up to see one of the other actors trying to control the situation; his demanding voice and rough looks turned him into the voice of reason. "Maybe Xanxus should take a break and go back in the building with Tsuna," Knuckles spoke up. _

_The child actor tried to shake the muscular boy off but his hand stayed solid where it was to keep him restrained. Knuckles was the only one strong enough physically to handle his emotional outbursts and he hated it. It was like a leash in his freedom._

"_Your brother does seem to like Xanxus," the Scandinavian worker spoke up. Xanxus glared at her making her jump._

"_That's true, he's always following him," another person added in._

"_Haha, yeah. He gets up to go wherever Xanxus goes,"_

"_He always tries to sneak in on set when your acting,"_

_His scars started to itch as everyone started to voice their observations. Who cares if the kid like him or not? He didn't!_

"_No, it's alright. I'll take care of him," the "charismatic" blond shook his head. _

"_Maybe your brother wants to spend time with Xanxus though,"_

_The child actor suddenly burst. "I'm not going to take care of him!"_

"_Quiet!"_

_A sudden loud bang silenced all of them as the director got off his seat._

"_Xanxus, your off. Go take take care of the kid. Go back in the building, rest up, and we'll continue your scene in the morning. Everyone else, we're going to the park where the protagonist meets the altar boy. Giotto, Knuckles, you're up," _

"_What?" the boy's mouth dropped in disbelief. Were they really going to do this?_

_The director walked off and everyone started shuffling to move the equipment. _

"_Get the camera lenses," _

"_Someone, make sure we get all the wires!"_

"_I'll fix your make-up there,"_

_The conversation completely shifted as they all accepted the director's decision. What the hell? _

"_Xanxus," a voice called behind him. He turned around and saw Knuckles holding the little brown haired boy in his arms. "Here," he shoved the kid at him, "make sure to take care of him," _

_A wide grin spread across the older boy's face as he went off. _

"_Ngh!" a strained breath crawled up his throat. He suddenly felt awkward with the little boy in his hand. _

_He slowly looked down in his arms trying to deny what was happening. _

"_Xanxus!" the little brunette smiled. _

_His whole face turned gray as his soul almost left his body. This was real. The boy looked at him with big brown eyes and he froze. _

"_To hell with this," he cursed and pushed the boy away. _

_He threw the boy to the ground and the little boy grew quiet. A crease started to form under the kid's mouth and he started crying away again. _

…_..._

* * *

"_C'mon Xanxus, lighten up," one of his co workers teased as they watched the little boy stare at him. _

_He ignored all of them and leaned his head on his arm as he sat in the lobby. _

"_Hn!" he felt a tug on his arm. He opened one of his eyes and saw the brat handing him a donut. "My brother says people are hungry when they're grumpy,"_

_A vein popped at the side of his head and he kicked the boy away. __Jeez! Didn't he get it?!_

"_Didn't I say to get away from me?!" _

_The brunette fell back on the ground as the donut fell from his hand. A tear started to form at the corner of his eye. _

"_Hmn..." he grumbled as the boy started crying. _

"_Why are you so mean?!" one his co-actors who saw came over. "Come on," he picked Tsuna up by the hand, "Let's get away from that grump over there. Do you want some candy? I can give you some," _

_The kid's wailing stopped into sniffles. _

"_Hmn," the kid nodded._

"_Good! I'll take you to my room. I still have some that my cousin sent me from Japan. Do you like gummies?" _

_A small giggle escaped the brunette. _

_"Mango flavored? I have some with faces on it."  
_

_"Hehe,"  
_

_"Alright! Let's go,"_

_Xanxus lifted an eyelid to peek. Who gets excited over candy? Just shows that he really is a little brat. He frowned as he saw Asari walk away holding Tsuna's hand. The Japanese suddenly turned back and gave a calm smile. _

_Agh! Whatever! As long the kid was out of his hair!_

…_..._

* * *

_Every time he was filming, he was there. He went over to the snack table to get a drink, he was there. He went over to sit down and watch t.v. during break, he was there, sitting next to him in the next chair. Morning breakfast, lunch, and dinner he was there. Ugh! The kid was following him everywhere! _

"_Aagghhhh!" he punched his co-actor as he saw a bush of brown hair hiding behind the prop set. _

"_Xanxus!" the director yelled as the child actor stomped off set. The old man let out a sigh. "Someone get an ice pack for Lampo over there," _

_One of the workers rushed over to the green haired boy as they helped him sit up. _

"_Ow!" the cool feeling stung against his cheek. _

"_You okay?" the director turned to him. _

_The actor hissed as he slowly got used to the pain. "Yeah," he nodded. _

"_It seems like Xanxus has been really tense lately," Bianchi went over to check out the damage on Lampo. She took the boy's hand so she could examine the red mark and found a light purple bruise forming; red liquid trickled down his mouth. "I'll make you something to eat later to ease the hurt," _

_Her words only added to his pain. "I-It's alright, Bianchi. I think I'll be okay," _

"_I'll make you Saffron Semifreddo with Cherry Cardamom Syrup for desert today," _

"_No! Don't destroy my favorite food!" the boy begged. "Aaggghhh!" his screams could be heard as she wouldn't take no for an answer. _

"_That kid is really getting harder to handle," the director frowned as he turned the other way. _

_Giotto overheard and went up to him._

"_I'm sorry," he looked at his perplexed face. _

_The man couldn't stop sighing. He really liked Xanxus, he really did. But his attitude was just..._

"_Maybe it's because he hasn't dealt with a lot of kids his own age," he tried to reason, "maybe that's why he feels uncomfortable with your little brother." The new upcoming actor clenched his fist. He knew where the man was going with this. "I want to keep Xanxus; I like him. I'm not saying it's your fault, I mean I don't mind having your kid brother around, but their relationship has to get better. I can't keep cutting scenes and trying to re-film over and over. You understand me?" _

"_Yeah," Giotto nodded, "I understand,"_

…_..._

* * *

"_Wooott! We finally made it! The beach!"_

"_Haha!" _

"_Come on, let's go!" _

_All the actors jumped out of the van and into the soft sand of the Scandinavian beach. The cool wind blew into their hair as they ran towards the water. _

"_Hurry up guys! Last one in the water has to do the dare we made up last night!"_

"_Knuckles! Come back here! Hey!" _

_G yelled after him but the hyper boy wouldn't listen. The pink haired actor sighed as he had to chase after the adventurous soul. _

"_Come back here! We still have to film first!" Asari followed after G._

_Sand sputtered everywhere as the rest of the cast went into a wave trying to capture Knuckles. As soon as the Asian actor moved, everyone moved. A laugh escaped from Giotto as he watched them all chase after the dark haired teen and was about to go after them._

"_Not you," he turned to see the director behind him. "We still have to film that boat scene first before you can go around and have fun," _

_His shoulders drooped in disappointment._

"_Alright," he nodded following after the director._

…_.._

* * *

_Xanxus barely got off the car when he saw the old man leading the camera crew and the new actor off onto the other side of the beach. In the opposite direction, the rest of the cast were trying to wrestle down the dark haired, muscular teen who wanted to have fun, work after. _

_He ignored their screams and headed off onto the shadier area near the umbrellas. With a folding chair in hand and shades on his nose, he just wanted to rest. Most of his scenes dealt with running and fighting. Just imagine having to sprint over and over again just because a certain little brat broke into set every time!_

_He laid out his chair and got on it. The cool wind licked his face telling him to calm down and his muscles relaxed. Right now, he shouldn't worry about it. He slowly closed his eyes only to be woken up again. _

"_Bianchi told me to play with you," a meek voice suddenly spoke up. _

_He glared at the sudden nuisance and the boy backed away. Through the orange lenses, he could see the baby face that played all the other people's emotions. The brunette tilted his head with big brown eyes. _

"_Go away, trash!" he barked at him. _

_That was the first time he called him that_ _and__the shock on Tsuna's face was priceless. His eyes started to water and he began crying. _

"_He just wanted to get closer to you!" one of the actresses came and scooped the crying child up to her shoulders. She rubbed the kid's hair to get him to stop and she turned to Xanxus with a look. "He really likes you, Xanxus. At least try talking to him too,"_

_He glared at the pink haired woman in the white bikini. Why should he? He didn't even have any idea why they dragged the kid along with them like this!_

_The woman dropped the kid back on the sand and crouched down to face him. _

"_Why don't I play with you instead? Come on, we can build a sand castle,"_

_Tsuna looked up at her rubbing his his eyes with his arm as Bianchi smiled and took him by the arm to go closer to the water near the wet sand. _

"_Hmph," Xanxus snorted as the two left him. Whatever. As long as the kid leaves him alone. _

_He closed his eyes and let the darkness fill his eyes but after a second or two, he woke up. He opened his eyes and saw the little boy smiling and laughing as the woman helped scoop sand in a bucket. Ugh. He closed his eyes again._

_ But then again, something woke him. _

_His eyes opened to another scene. This time, the woman was gone and the brunette was alone. He couldn't hear but three older boys came over and stopped by. They crouched low to talk to Tsuna and seemed like they were going to stay there. He closed his eyes again. _

_Again that nagging feeling tugged on him! His red eyes shot open in annoyance and this time, the three boys were replaced with two men, both in speedos. One with beach blond hair got a little too close and sat next to him. He rubbed Tsuna's back like he knew him and smiled. The little brunette smiled back. As long as the brat was happy, he closed his eyes again. _

_One more time. One more time, his eyelids peeled itself back again. They felt tired even though they didn't want to stay closed. Instead of the two men, he saw a middle aged man talking to him and laughing like cheery older men do. He didn't look like he was going out for a swim; he had on brown slacks and a blue t-shirt. Ugh. This boy could talk to anyone. The man reached for his pockets and took a small object out. The little boy immediately jumped up and took it from him. Candy? Xanxus couldn't tell. He ignored it and went back to sleep. _

_What was is this time?! His eyes shot open and he saw a really old man sitting next to the little boy. He was still near the water as the wrinkly aged man sat next to him. His curly white chest hair popped out everywhere but his scalp was waxed shinny under the sun. They exchanged a few words he couldn't hear and the old man suddenly sat up. A frown appeared on Tsuna's face as the old man took his hand and tugged on him, urging him to get up and go somewhere with him. _

_Aw, hell. Why couldn't he stay asleep? He forced his eyes shut and made himself go back into the dark empty state of sleep. _

…_..._

* * *

"_Where's Tsuna?"_

"_Have you seen him?"_

"_Have you seen Giotto's brother?"_

_It felt like something was biting him on his neck. He smacked himself at the itchy spot and he immediately woke up. _

"_Have you seen my brother?" he could hear Giotto's worried voice. _

_What do you mean where's your brother? The child actor groaned as he tossed his legs out of the folding chair. He's over there! He tossed his head to the side and found an empty scene. _

_Huh? Xanxus sprang up as he only saw the sand castle the little boy had made with Bianchi. Time had made it lean to the side as sand started to crumble off at the left. Apparently, time made it so that the little boy disappeared too. _

"_Xanxus," a voice called out to him. He turned around to see the curly green haired boy with black swimming trunks. He still had that bruise he gave him when he punched him on set earlier, but it looked better – not so blue. "Have you seen Tsuna? He was here a earlier, right?"_

_For some reason, the child actor froze. It didn't make sense, but he felt uneasy. His palms started to sweat and his heart started to beat faster. His heart. It felt weird. Like something was piercing at it with something heavy. It just didn't feel right! _

"_Xanxus," Lampo repeated. _

_The sight of his co-actor with the rest of the cast in the background aimlessly walking around looking for someone ticked him off. _

"_How the hell am I supposed to know?!" he shoved the other boy and walked off. _

_The older teen stumbled back and called after him. "Hey!" Xanxus just kept on walking. "What a brat," the teen muttered under his breath. _

_Everyone turned their heads as Lampo raised his voice but he didn't care. He walked even faster trying to disappear from sight. He didn't even notice he was almost running until he heard his breath. _

"_Haah... Hahhh..." his breath was so deep. _

_Why was he acting like this?! He brushed his hand through his hair and accidentally ripped one of the feathers sticking out at the bottom. Damn it! He shook his hand to get the loose feather off. A couple walked by him whispering as he turned his head trying to look everywhere at once. _

_He looked to the pier. No. At the crosswalk. No. Just a bunch of teenagers blocking traffic. Anywhere back at the sand? He went up to the place over looking the beach._

"_Sawada!" something gurgled up his throat. He actually never called out the little boy directly. "Sawada!" _

_He turned around to see any sight of the spiky brown hair. Nothing. Maybe it sounded like he was calling his brother. Everything around him seemed to spin as people kept on walking by. The food carts, the buses, the people! _

"_Tsuna!" his name finally reached his tongue. _

_There was only mindless chatter. His chest heaved up and down as he didn't get an answer. He wasn't there. He walked over to the railing to look back down at the sea. _

_But he was there. He was there every time he opened his eyes! He gripped the railing hard showing the white of his knuckles. He was always with some one too. The three boys, the two men, the old man. The old man. The weird old man. The hairy weird old man. The creepy, weird, hairy old man... The creepy old man... Something snapped in his head as he suddenly remembered. The ugly, creepy, weird, hairy, old man who tried to hold his hand and take him somewhere! _

"_Xanxus!" _

_His shoulders jumped as he heard the little voice squeak. Was it...? He turned around and saw a little brown haired boy with a pink ice cream cone in his hand. _

"_Xanxus!" the boy smiled. _

_His eyes were shocked open. Was that really him? Was he hallucinating by saying the boy's name too much? The boy's big brown eyes were set on him until some big wrinkly thing tugged on his hand forcing him to look up. The child actor's lip twitched as he followed the wrinkly thing up to his arm, up to the white hairy chest, and up at the ugly face. _

_The man jumped as his red eyes met the green ones; his jiggly fat shaking. _

"_Ah," the man's face took on a new level of nervousness, "I was just taking him out for ice cream! I didn't do– "_

_BAM!_

_Xanxus sprang at him and punched him in the face. BAM! BAM! BAM! Uppercut. Side. Jab! His fists couldn't get enough. _

"_Aaagghhh!" he screamed as he sent another one flying straight at the man's nose._

"_S-stop!" a pair of small hands grabbed his leg. _

_The sudden touch made him freeze. A continuous crying of high pitched sound paralyzed his arms making him pause for a second as time started to affect him again. Hazy blurs started to disappear as sounds and shapes of his surroundings started to come back. The buzzing of the crowd started to fill his ears; the lines in his eyes began to align and he found a beaten, bloody old pervert knocked out on the ground. _

"_Ngh!" he slowly turned his eyes down to see Tsuna clinging on to his leg. _

_A scared expression filled the brunette's face. Feeling that the older boy had stopped, he looked back up to see Xanxus' face. _

_The child actor's face remained placid. Was he angry? The boy couldn't tell. The older of the two bent down and placed one knee on the floor. _

"_Tsuna," he repeated the new word on his tongue. _

_Xanxus calmed as he saw the chocolate brown color of his irises look at him. He patted him in approval and the boy moved his head with his hand like a cat. _

"_He only wanted to buy me ice cream," the little kid spoke up. _

_An irritated frown formed on the older boy's face as he tried to explain. A sudden urge to kill bubbled up through his veins and back at his fists again. The boy waited for the child actor to say something but he remained quiet. _

"_Ice cream," Tsuna pointed to the melted mush on the floor. _

…_..._

* * *

"_Stop," _

_The man kept saying that but Giotto kept walking along the shore._

"_I said stop," the man's voice was angry. _

_The blond kept going but gave a quick look behind him, his eyes stressed and tired. He couldn't stop. His brother was missing!_

"_We already have people out looking for him!"_

_The director's voice didn't make him feel any better. _

"_He's my brother! I have to find him!" a sudden pang of guilt burned in him as he said it. _

_Between acting and being a big brother, it always seemed like being one made it so he couldn't be the other! _

_He turned his head away from his boss and walked on. He had to find Tsuna. _

"_Giotto,"_

"_Give me some more time!" he pleaded. He scrunched his face as something grabbed him from the back and lifted him up in the air. "H-hey!"_

_He could feel the hard bone as he landed on someone's shoulder. He wiggled his arms trying to escape the hold around his waist as a boy's arm wrapped tightly around him. _

"_Let go!" he started to kick. _

_The person jumped so he hit the pointy shoulder a second time. _

"_Calm down," a cool voice tried to ease his tension. _

_He tried to kick once more and the boy holding him finally pinched his leg. _

"_Ow!"_

"_I'll let go once you stop hitting me,"_

_Giotto kept kicking and the boy only pinched harder._

"_Okay! O-ow!" the young actor hissed. The excruciating pain made the blond stop kicking and turn limp on his shoulder._

"_That's better," there was a hint of triumph in the cool voice. _

_He stayed still as the person carrying him kept walking and a crease deepened on the young Italian's brows as he saw how all the distance he traveled was being undone. Who was this jerk who was threatening him to stay quiet? Giotto pushed against the boy's back to see his face when a cool wind blew so that strips of blondish, almost white hair slapped his face. _

"_Bleh," he tried to spit out the salty strings getting in his mouth. It got in his eyes and nose that he had to use his hand to peel them away from him to see. "Alaude," he recognized his hair, "Let me down," _

_Silence filled the air._

"_Alaude!"_

_The co-actor suddenly stopped. Ah, was his friend actually going to listen to him? As he was about to speak again, rough hands grabbed at him and his back and threw him up in the air._

"_W-woah!" he could feel the wind rushing past him as he started falling back down. _

_Holy cow! What was happening?! His heart almost skipped a beat thinking that he was going crash back down. He closed his eyes when a sudden pair of hands caught him. _

"_Ah!" he let out a frightened breath. _

_Giotto instinctively grabbed on to whatever he could. He could feel uneven steps under him and when he opened his eyes, it was the most embarrassing thing he ever went through in his life. _

"_What is this?! Stop it!" he yelled starting to kick again. _

_Alaude was running and carrying him princess style. Oh god. Giotto's face started to burn. Don't head back to the van where everyone is! He turned his head to where they were heading and saw the white car. Oh god, the words repeated in his mind. _

_He looked up to the bright blond pleading. Stop. Please stop... The boy ignored him as his pale blue eyes looked forward. The only think he saw was getting back. A shaky line formed the new actor's mouth as he watched Alaude's face in the orange sunset. _

_Set already, sun! Make it dark so no one sees us like this! Come on! Set! _

_The sun wasn't listening to him either. No one does. He buried his face deep into his co-actor's chest. Stop, Alaude..._

_The boy's strides suddenly stopped and he popped his head back up. He stopped?! _

"_Giotto! Jeez! We finally found you!" he heard one of the guys' voice._

"_We were looking for you! Tsuna finally..." the voice trailed off. _

_He turned his head and saw that they were actually back at the van. Everyone's faces was odd like they saw something alien. Lampo's face turned from surprised to a surpressed smile. _

"_Hahahaha!" he broke out. _

_The heat started to come up Giotto's face. He turned to see Daemon look away with a smirk. What? _

"_You should get off," Alaude's serious voice only made them laugh louder. _

_The blond's face became completely red as he pushed himself off. Didn't he tell him to stop earlier?! _

"_Hahahaha!" he heard Knuckle's boyish laugh. _

_The other boy's face remained calm like nothing was happening. Should he hit him?! _

"_Giotto," a feminine voice called after him. He jerked his head still mad and saw that it was Bianchi. She kept a smile on her face too. "We found your brother while you were gone,"_

_The mention of his brother stripped the anger off of him. _

"_Where?!"_

"_Over there," she pointed back to the shore. _

_Giotto looked back to the sunset and saw the backs of two boys sitting in the sand. There was a small gap between the taller dark haired boy with exotic feathers in his hair and the smaller brown haired one. The brunette finished biting at what seemed like the last of an ice cream cone. _

"_Tsuna," the blond breathed a sigh of relief. _

_He watched as a middle aged man in a red and black speedo passed the kids by and gave a glance at them. _

"_Oomf!" the man's eyes grew wide as he suddenly tripped. _

_He stumbled in the sand to get up and ran like something was going to kill him. Xanxus stood up as he watched the man in the speedo go and sat back down as soon as he was a good distance away. _

_A small breeze blew by and ruffled the kids' hair and the little brunette scooted over closing the gap between the two of them. He leaned his head on the taller boy's shoulder and stayed like that until the sun finally set down the horizon. _

…_..._

* * *

"_I told you, your brother likes him,"_

"_I know," _

"_Watch, I'll show you he does," _

"_I just said, I know," _

_The boys crept in the hallway just as everyone was beginning to fall asleep. _

"_I don't need to see it," Giotto argued. _

_Knuckles pushed him forward. "Come on, just go look," _

_All the lights were off at the beach house they rented as they sneaked into the director's bedroom. The two younger boys slept with him to save room since the guy's room was already too crowded. _

_Knuckles made Giotto take the lead as they slowly opened the bedroom door. _

"_There, see?" the dark haired boy breathed. _

_The blond actor tried to squint his eyes in the dark. With just a bit of moonlight, he could see his little brother and Xanxus sleeping on the same bed, blankets tossed aside. _

"_What am I supposed to see?"_

"_There!" his friend hushed him as his kid brother started to toss in the bed. _

"_I__ think they heard us!"_

"_No, look!" the muscular boy grabbed Giotto's arm. _

_It was hard to make out but one of the boys tossed and threw his arms around the other one. Was his brother having a nightmare? He continued to watch as the brunette start to mumble. _

"_Nguh," the boy stammered in his sleep. _

_He couldn't take it anymore. Giotto was about to completely go in and wake the boy up when his brother's eyes suddenly shot open. _

"_Ngh!" he stopped himself with a bead of sweat running down his temple. Did they get caught?! _

_Excuses started to run his head. We were just going to the restroom! _

_His brother slowly sat himself up, eyes wide and clearly awake. But at the same time, not. From what he could gather, the boy's eyes were murky. _

_Tsuna cast his eyes down to look down at the older child sleeping next to him. A low rumble escaped from the unconscious kid as he lightly snored, completely unaware. _

"_Gggghhh..." the long deep breaths went through his nose. _

_His little brother just kept sitting there blankly staring. _

"_Gghhhhh... Ggghhhhh...Ggh-!" _

_Xanxus' body twitched as Tsuna suddenly dived in and went at his lips. _

_Oh my god! Giotto immediately drew back and shut the door. Slam! _

"_See?! See?!" Knuckles shook him. "I told you!"_

_He turned to his friend wide eyed. _

"_What are you guys doing?" a voice broke the moment. _

_The two boys looked up and saw a dark figure standing right by the door. _

"_Director," Giotto breathed. _

_The old man raised his brows at them as he looked from his bedroom door to the boys sitting on the floor. That wasn't weird at all._

"_We were... going to the bathroom?"_

"_Together?" the man's face scrunched up even more. _

"_Yes?" _

_An awkward silence filled the air. _

"_Ah, okay," the old man finally gave in. "I needed to talk to you anyway," he turned to the crouched blond kid leaning against his door. "Come on," _

…_..._

* * *

_Alaude stepped out of the bedroom and into the balcony. It was a good day, it was a good day. But that's why he couldn't sleep. He leaned over the railings as the beach air passed gently making his shirt cling to his body. _

_The cool wind reminded him of the incident earlier. He could still feel the other boy's hands clinging around his neck as he carried him down the beach. Sunset. Beach. Sand. _

_Agh! He threw his head down, his face turning red. More days should be like this! _

"_What did you want to talk to me about?" _

_He was so happy that he could hear the boy's voice again. _

"_It's about your little brother," _

_The sudden deep voice made his face crunch. Okay, he could understand hearing Giotto, but the directors?_

_He looked down below and saw that the spiky blond he was thinking about and the old man were talking in the patio just under the guys' bedroom. _

"_What do you mean?" his co-actor spoke up. _

"_About the incident today," the old man quickly got to the point, "I can't have another incident like this. I don't want to do this, but I don't think he can stay with us if it's like this. Taking care of your brother, it's a hassle. He can't stay with us," _

_The young actor grew silent. _

"_Giotto," the man patted the boy's shoulder, "don't you think he should go to school anyways? He shouldn't be spending his time living in movie sets. He's still a kid, and you're making him stuck to live a life with you and your career. If you want to keep acting, you can't keep your brother with you,"_

"_But my parents... I don't have anywhere to send him to,"_

_A thought flashed by Alaude's mind as he quietly eavesdropped. Then why not just quit acting? Get another job that can support your kid brother. _

_The bright blond teen mentally smacked himself for thinking that. He didn't want Giotto to leave! _

"_I don't have the money__," the blond looked to the director pleading, "I can't send him anywhere. Even for school,"_

…_..._

* * *

_The old man wouldn't hear him. His decision was final._

"_We have to send him somewhere. He can't be here," _

"_Director!" _

"_Then why not send him to where I used to go?" a voice suddenly called up from above them. _

_Giotto and the old man looked up and saw a curious young teen looking over them up in the balcony. _

"_Alaude!" his name escaped Giotto's lips. It immediately struck him that he was hearing their whole conversation. "What are you doing there?!"_

_The pale boy didn't speak. _

"_Send him to where I went to school," he repeated. _

"_Son, get down here!" the director waved him over. _

_His co-actor remained expressionless as he paused, looked around, and tossed his legs over the railing. _

"_Alaude!" Giotto called his name again as the other teen jumped off the two stories and down at the ground. _

_He spun in the air and landed perfectly on his feet. _

"_You called?" he turned to face him. A smirk ran over the pale boy's face as Giotto refused to answer. _

"_It's rude to eavesdrop in other people's conversation," he frowned. _

"_It looked like you were about to cry, so I had to do something," _

_The spiky blond was suddenly smacked with a deep red as the other boy mindlessly spoke. _

"_You wanted to send his little brother to school?" Alaude turned to the director, "send him to where I went. To Namimori,"_

_The aged man looked at the pale boy like he was out of his mind. _

"_Giotto doesn't come from the same background as you, Alaude," he said it a matter-of-factly, "the tuition is too much for that type of school. It's going to take twice as much as what he's earning now to send Tsuna in a prestigious place like that,"_

"_Then take my salary to help enroll the kid there as well," _

_Giotto's face dropped as he heard the pale boy say it. _

"_What?!" he grabbed the teen's arm, "you can't do that! That's your money! We can't take it!"_

"_You just said it's my money; I can do whatever I want with it," The bright haired boy shook his hand off and turned back to the man in charge. "Do it. I'll be making more when I grow up anyways,"_

"_No!" the spiky haired boy kept arguing. His voice turned deadly serious. "No, director. We're not going to send Tsuna to Namimori. And no, Alaude. We're not going to use your money,"_

…...

* * *

How many years had it been? Giotto stared at the now grown up blond sitting next to him reading; he did grow up to become a more famous actor. The Italian was lost in thought as he heard snickers behind him as two of his friends ran around in the plane.

"Come back here! Give it back!" he could hear Knuckle's angry voice repeat over and over again. A loud laugh resonated in the air as heavy footsteps came closer. "I told you! It's not mine!"

"Ha! Like I'll believe you!"

Lampo suddenly stumbled past Giotto's seat and reached for his hand.

"Giotto!" the green haired teen shoved a magazine at him. "Guess what Knuckles had in his bag!"

"Lampo!" the muscular teen yelled behind him.

The younger boy looked back and bolted at the sight of him.

"It's not mine!" Knuckles turned to him as he passed Giotto by. He kept on running and chased after the mischievous green haired teen. "Come back here! Oi! Lampo!"

The spiky blond raised his brows as he ignored their shenanigans.

Okay... They could keep being noisy, but he had another thing still stuck in his mind. He turned back to look at Alaude.

"What?" the pale blond noticed his intense stare.

Giotto remembered all that he did for him in the past.

"I swear," he sat his hand on the pale boy's shoulder, "that I will pay you back,"

Alaude looked at him like he didn't know what he was talking about.

"Some one help!" Lampo screamed interrupting the conversation as he got pinned to the floor. Giotto didn't even have to look to know the taller teen had him in a choke hold.

He knew he had to come over and help.

"Remember that," the Italian looked into the bright blond's eyes as he got up to go over to the younger boy's aid. He gave the magazine that Lampo shoved at him earlier to Alaude and walked off.

…...

* * *

_Pay him? _Alaude tried to rack his brain about what he meant. Pay him back with for what? He looked down at the cover at the magazine the other boy just gave him and saw a red headed woman sitting on the hood of a sports car with her legs open.

Playboy?! The teen's clear blue eyes dilated as he looked from the picture in his hands to the Italian trying to untangle the other two boys apart.

What was Giotto trying to say?!


End file.
